The Magic Bullet Murder Case
by Mirror and Image
Summary: Complete - As always Conan stumbles across another body; and this time the prime suspect is this high school kid named Kuroba Kaito. Sequel to The Case of the Hidden Epidemic.
1. Chapter 1

**The Magic Bullet Murder Case**

Mirror and Image

* * *

He never was what you'd call a religious person. Oh sure, he celebrated Oban, Golden Week, and all the major holidays. There were even some Western celebrations that he always supported, such as Christmas and its focus on family and the spirit of giving (not KFC romance like Japan's media portrayed.....). But he never really spent a lot of time pondering his soul or the way the gods worked. The way he saw it, given his chosen night job, any religion that existed would pretty much view him as corrupt and label him a tarnished soul. He didn't particularly agree with that outlook on himself, but most religions didn't look too kindly to thieves, so he took the philosophy of "You don't bother it; it don't bother you."

There were, however, two goddesses that, while he didn't exactly _worship_ them, he did owe and respect them. The first was a goddess that had been with him through his whole life, even before he set out on his night job. That was the goddess of luck. Whatever name she went by, no matter the religion, he worked hard to stay in her good graces and she replied in kind. Ever since he was a little kid, things tended to work in his favor. Not all the time, but just enough for him to notice and appreciate. When he started his current job, he noticed it even more strongly, and he reciprocated in kind, treating his luck with the proper respect and appreciation it deserved.

The second goddess he bowed to was one he didn't pay much attention to _until_ he started his current career path. Tsukiyomi, the moon goddess. Before he'd started on his path, the moon was just a lovely aspect of nighttime. His father always seemed to love the moonlight. Growing up, he recalled random times when he, his father and mother would picnic under the full moon or would drive home late from something, watching the glowing orb as it rose through the dark sky. But when he'd learned just how _important_ the moon really was in his line of work, he started giving Tsukiyomi the respect and appreciation that he probably should have given her when he was a child. After all, it was her gentle luminescence that determined if he had gotten what he was after or not. That deserved _something_.

This didn't make him some sort of fanatic. He knew he couldn't do any of what he did without all the hard work that he himself put into it. There was a _reason_ why he was good at what he did, and it had to do very much with all the planning and preparation that he did. He got what he put in. If he tried to half-ass it, his ass would be fried, but that didn't mean that he didn't acknowledge Tsukiyomi and his luck when things that were suddenly wrapped in a hand-basket postmarked for hell miraculously turned around and started working.

So whenever something went his way, or when walking down the street at night with a bright moon above him, he made sure to bow and offer a polite compliment to the two goddesses.

It had worked out for him so far.

Kaito yawned as he stretched back. The moon was already sinking through the trees. He'd just spent the night researching a large sphalerite said to have a red glow in the translucent, diamond-like stone that was to be worn as part of a costume that a Mexican rock singer would wear at a concert the following month at the Budokan. That, in itself, wasn't enough to draw Kaito's eye. After all, sphalerite was known to (albeit rarely) have a red iridescence depending on quality. But this little Mexican stone had a few legends around it about extended longevity. Nothing confirmed, but enough to catch Kaito's eye. Besides, he could _do things_ with a rock concert. Lots of _interesting_ things with a rock concert if he planned it right.

Of course, Kaito was still a little annoyed that he hadn't yet found a jewel for a _proper_ heist in Osaka. He had promised a personal invite to the Osakan detective Hattori Heiji, but nothing had showed up that was really _worthy_ of inviting a sharp mind like tantei-han's. Plus, the kendo star was still in physical therapy after being shot in the hip while trying to save tantei-kun from a deranged child-psychologist-turned-drug-dealer from a couple months back in the fall. Kaito could be patient, but he was keeping an eye on the jewels of Osaka. Lady Luck would smile on him when the time was right.

Another yawn and stretch and Kaito decided it was a good idea to turn in for a couple hours of sleep before he had to get up for school.

* * *

The Walk to School, as defined by Kaito, was uneventful and completely normal.

The Walk to School, as defined by one Nakamori Aoko, was extremely irritating and embarrassing. Especially when Kaito, her best friend for years, flipped her skirt up in front of a crowd of people while waiting for the light to change. She may not have had a mop handy, but Kaito had dodged her book bag, slid around her fists, flipped her skirt _again_ and tickled her sides in one shot, before he was once again gleefully dodging her furious thrusts.

Really, Kaito _loved_ mornings like that. Plenty of exercise on the way to school, and a smile on his face that would easily last the rest of the day.

"Really, Aoko," he drawled. "Unicorns panties? I never pictured you as the mythological-type."

"You," she growled. "Will. Die."

"Seriously!" he sniggered. "Why put designs on panties unless you want people to see them?"

"You pervert!"

"Aww, come on Aoko! I'm just helping you to show them off!"

At that point, she degraded into her father's vocabulary.

Kaito, of course, took out a pad of paper and started to take notes.

"*#%^*&$^$+^#=!!"

"Oooooh, is that even possible?"

"-}&!$#+&#%!!"

"You just made that one up didn't you?"

"_Kaitoooooooo_!!"

"Wait, you can make my _name_ sound like profanity?" Kaito promptly stopped evading, knelt in front of her, hands clasped in front of him like a figure in devout prayer, bringing the policeman's daughter up short. "Aoko, the miracle has happened. You have surpassed your father!" He then bowed dramatically to her feet and leaned forward to kiss her shoes.

Aoko, naturally, didn't know what to make of this and was turning about ten shades of red in embarrassment. She kicked at him, though without the ferocity of before, and Kaito recognized the peace offering. He stood and smiled at her. "You know," he grinned madly. "I think we're actually _early_ to school for a change."

Aoko let out a huff. "Only because you had us running at top speed when we didn't even need to hurry," she grumbled as they got to their shoe lockers and changed.

The magician shrugged. "Well, it gives me some time to read the newspaper." Said paper appeared in his hands with a puff of smoke.

"Idiot," Aoko mumbled as they continued down the hall to class.

Kaito, who wasn't listening to her, snorted. "Snoring Kogoro made the news again," he mumbled absently. Of course, that meant that tantei-kun was well and thriving, still chasing after murders like a lost puppy, so there was no need to check in on him. Frankly, after his last visit, when his favorite critic had been in the hospital after bleeding out two pints of his own blood, Kaito had rather deliberately kept his distance. The fact that the compacted detective had figured out that it was _him_ who'd been watching (read: stalking) him was a good reason to back off. At least until he finished the heist he was planning. Then he'd drop by to annoy the little shrimp and see if he noticed any faster, now that he knew who was watching.

Frankly, the whole case with the poisoning of the children of Beika had weirded Kaito out on a lot of levels. The largest level, of course, had been his shattered Morbidity Meter after seeing the diminutive detective bleeding into a bucket, kicking over said bucket as a distraction, and then to have tantei-han shot and rolling in tantei-kun's blood. Massive Ew and Massive Morbid. Kaito still shuddered when he thought about it. But another creepy aspect of the whole incident was his interactions with said shrunken sleuth to begin with.

They had... talked. It hadn't just been banter and counter-deducing and Run The Hell Away. When tantei-kun was slowly breaking from all the pressure, Kaito had gotten him help, pushed buttons to make him see what he had, and it all culminated with him actually leaving his own life to take up residence in the squirt's school to keep an eye on him. That last conversation they'd had, Kaito felt he revealed more of himself than he probably should have, despite all the layers of the Poker Face that he'd worn (and needed to wear _whenever_ he confronted the midget...).

It was strange being able to talk with a critic. There were usually too many walls in between them to have something approaching anything even _like_ a conversation. But tantei-kun had said that he'd respected Kaitou Kid. That what Kaitou Kid did was brilliant. Not even the half-British snoop had ever acknowledged him like that. The shrimp had felt safe in his arms and it had sent Kaito's ears burning. He was starting to view tantei-kun as a friend, not just some challenge or rival, and that could enter some very dangerous territory. So Kaito had backed off. A little distance did a phantom thief good.

He'd just finished reading the paper, cover to cover, when Aoko yelled next to his ear.

"Hakuba-kun! Good morning!"

"Geeze, Aoko," Kaito grumbled, putting a hand over his ringing ear, "can't you learn anything about volume?"

Aoko shot him a glare, but said nothing as Hakuba Saguru, half-British detective extraordinaire, came over with a polite smile. "Good morning, Aoko-kun. Kuroba-kun."

"Yo," Kaito waved a hand, sniggering. He had no reason to laugh, he just felt like it. And it was all the more gratifying to do so as he watched the British snoop almost automatically start looking around for something to spring on him. Ahhhhh, how Kaito loved that reaction.

"Behave," growled Aoko.

"Awww, but I haven't _done_ anything!"

"Really?"

Kaito gave his best innocent smile.

Several students backed away.

"Hey, Aoko, what's Kaitou-kun done now?"

The magician turned his innocent charm over to the bespectacled girl. "Absolutely _nothing_, Keiko-chan. Nobody will believe me though, can you _believe_ that?"

Aoko's mop connected with empty air as Kaito reappeared standing on his desk. "Oh, you want another mop-battle already?"

Hakuba merely looked up with a cocky grin. "Your agility, Kuroba-kun, never ceases to remind me of someone."

Aoko, Keiko, and Kaito rolled their eyes as one. "He's not Kaitou Kid," Aoko stated flatly.

"It's been disproved repeatedly," Keiko sighed.

Kaito merely hopped down to his seat and shot a glare. "Can't you at least have some, oh I don't know, _evidence_?" Because as long as there wasn't evidence, Kaito would never have to worry.

"Don't worry," Hakuba said with a smile. "I'm quite sure I'll have it some day."

"Anyway," Keiko smiled. "I was asked to grab Yoshistune-kun and Hameru-kun and take them to the nurse. Let the teacher know when she takes attendance for me, okay?"

"Of course," Aoko replied, waving her off. "We have Katanaka-sensei first today, so it won't be a problem."

Kaito glanced at his watch and decided he had enough time to work on his latest gadget before class started.

"Hakuba-kun?" Aoko turned to the detective. "Kaito and I are having a study session in the library after school today, would you like to join us?"

"He doesn't have to!" Kaito retorted, digging through his bag for the loose pieces that always seemed to get buried in the bottom.

"He needs it, Kaito," Aoko shot back. "He was in England for the past two weeks and needs to catch up." The policeman's daughter turned back to Hakuba. "Is your mother doing better now?"

"Fit as a fiddle," the blond replied. "It was just a common cold; she really didn't need me there." He glanced at Kaito, who was still digging through his bag, and gave a soft, less arrogant smile to Aoko. "I think she just wanted an excuse to have me visit. She wasn't that fond of my choice to come back here to Japan."

"I'd imagine not," Aoko said sympathetically.

Something about his best friend offering sympathy to Hakuba rather grated on Kaito's nerve for some indiscernible reason, so he sat up and produced what he was looking for with a flourish. "Ah! Found it at last!"

Both Hakuba and Aoko blinked.

"Kaito.... Are those...?"

"Bullets. And an Enfield bullet chamber, if I'm not mistaken."

The magician put on his best patronizing tone and gave a flat glare. "Wonderful deductions, detective." But he turned to reassure Aoko. "They aren't real bullets. Not even those fake Hollywood cartridges. I was thinking of trying a variation of the Magic Bullet Trick."

Of course, his "variation" involved swapping real bullets with fake bullets under a sniper's nose, but he didn't need to say that. Kaitou Kid was non-violent, so Kuroba Kaito doing a "violent" type of magic trick would help separate identities.

What he wasn't quite expecting were the classmates now crowding around him.

"Magic Bullet? How's that work?"

"Don't those American magicians Pen and Teller do that trick?"

"I saw it on youtube!"

"Wait, wasn't there also a video on youtube explaining how it works?"

"Yeah, you need a lot of assistants."

"Kuroba-kun, you're the only one in your magic act right? How would you do a trick like that without assistants?"

"How do you do _any_ of your tricks?"

And in all the fuss was almost a dozen classmates asking Kaito how magic was done and other miscellaneous questions that were irrelevant and off topic. It was Hakuba, however, who grabbed one of Kaito's fake bullets right out of his hand and inspected it more closely.

"Kuroba-kun. This is a _real_ bullet."

That, naturally, made the class back away. Kaito paled, snatching the bullet right back and inspecting it. "_Shit_," he growled. "_Shit_! It must have gotten mixed in with my fakes. _Damn it_. And I was being so careful."

The idea of switching live bullets out for harmless fakes appealed to Kaito in a great many ways. But he needed to work out how to do it properly first. There was _no way in hell_ he was going to practice the trick with live ammunition, but part of the trick with the Magic Bullet was that a real bullet _was_ used initially and it came with the materials delivered from a magician he emailed back and forth in Canada. No doubt one of his pigeons mixed it in when he wasn't looking.

With a puff of smoke, a notecard box appeared and Kaito quickly dumped everything into it, snapping it shut and producing a scarf from Hakuba's sleeve to tie it shut and bury under all the books in his bag. "I'm not _touching_ that damn thing until I get home."

Aoko reached over and put a hand on his arm. "It's okay, Kaito. It's not like you had an actual gun on you. There's no way that bullet can go off in the middle of class."

Kaito rolled his eyes, but Hakuba interrupted before he could explain.

"There are ways for bullets to work without guns, Aoko-kun. The principal is that the hammer of a gun strikes the primer of a bullet, which causes the ignition of gunpowder to set off the bullet."

Understandably, she paled. "So just a strong force on that bullet will make it fire?"

"There's more to it than that, Aoko," Kaito sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "The primer of the bullet is a very specific and small part that would have to be hit with a great deal of force. You're right; that's not likely to happen here in school. But there's _no way_ I'm taking that risk."

"Which is why it was a good idea for Kuroba-kun to bury them. Less risk that way."

"You're both sure?"

"Yes," the said together.

Aoko gave out a small sigh of relief. "Then are real bullets used in this Magic Bullet trick of yours?" There was worry crossing her face.

Kaito waved her worries away. "The Magic Bullet is another one of the old switcheroos. Present and authenticate the bullet, switch, carry out trick, all done."

The door slid open and the stern face of Minagami Kakeru. The karate champion aimed a poisonous glare at Kaito, but he'd grown used to that and completely ignored it, manifesting a dove in his hand to scold it for dropping things in his bag where they didn't belong. Minagami-senpai narrowed his eyes, but went to his little sister Junko, and spoke quietly with her.

"Geez," Aoko muttered into the magician's ear. "He's _still_ angry over that?"

Kaito shrugged. "Who cares? I apologized and he wouldn't accept. That's his problem." A while back, Kaito, while dodging Aoko's mop, had done a quick-change into the elder Minagami and said something; Kaito couldn't remember what. Minagami-senpai had been angered and the magician had apologized, but the karate champion had refused to accept it and had treated Kaito horribly since. Not that Kaito ever really cared what people thought of him.

"Kuroba Kaito, please report to the office. Kuroba Kaito, to the office, please."

Kaito, Aoko, and Hakuba all looked up at the announcement. Then Aoko and Hakuba looked at Kaito.

"What'd you do this time?" Aoko flatly asked.

Kaito blinked. "I don't know."

"I'd have thought," Hakuba said with smug arrogance, "that you'd have learned that your 'innocent' routine doesn't work."

Jaw dropping, Kaito protested. "Really! I have no idea what this is about!"

"Come on," Aoko swiftly reached out and grabbed the magician's arm.

"A wonderful idea, Aoko-kun. Kuroba-kun _would_ need an escort to ensure no further harm to our fellow students." Hakuba grabbed his other arm

"Wait a minute!" Kaito protested. He let them drag him out of the room.

"Kaito-kun? Aoko-kun? Saguru-kun?" The two law-abiders looked away from their struggling charge at Katanaka-sensei as she blinked at them.

"Sorry, sensei," Aoko gave a bright smile. "Kaito was called to the office and we're making sure he doesn't get lost on the way. Oh, and Keiko had to bring Yoshitsune-kun and Hameru-kun to the nurse. She should be back quickly."

The young teacher smiled back. "Alright," she said genially. "But don't let Kaito-kun get _too_ roughed up, alright? We _are_ rather responsible for the wellbeing of our students here."

"He will be returned in one piece," Hakuba reassured her. "Though when he'll be back is questionable."

Katanaka gave a small chuckle. "Well, at least class will be quiet for a change."

Kaito, who had had enough of being manhandled (albeit, willingly) and spoken about like he wasn't there, decided it was time to do something. So, with a puff of smoke, he disappeared from his captors, flipped Aoko's skirt, pulled Hakuba's jacket around so that it was backwards and buttoned, and reappeared down the hall.

"I'll make it on my own!" he called down to them, and went in the opposite direction of the office.

* * *

Once class was started, an assignment was given requiring students to work in groups while the teacher walked around to help. During the chatter and work, a figure went to Kuroba Kaito's bag. Only one item was removed. But that one item's removal would make Kaito regret ever leaving his bag unguarded while he went to the office.

* * *

Hakuba inspected his reflection in the mirror and adjusted his sleeves so that a half-inch of their pristine white peeked out from the crisp black of his jacket sleeve. Perfect. Kuroba had seemed to make it his mission over the course of the day to reverse various aspects of his apparel just for the sheer joy of seeing the British detective come back from the restroom looking immaculate once more. After all, Hakuba understood the importance of appearance. Being half Japanese, half British, and having both parents extremely public and wealthy somewhat lent oneself to being conscious of how one looked. While his coloring was perfectly acceptable in England, his Japanese features tended to get the odd looks from time to time. And while in Japan, his color and height clearly labeled him as a foreigner, despite his clearly Japanese face. In order to be accepted by either side, he always put forth his very best.

It was with this same meticulousness that he approached anything in life. It wasn't that perfection was expected of him. Far from it; he understood that his parents loved him and each other, despite their careers keeping them all apart. They loved him as he was. Hakuba himself put the goal in front of himself to present himself as precisely and promptly as possible, because he never wanted to seem like a disgrace to either his mother or father, even if they never saw him in that manner.

Another glance in the mirror and Hakuba brushed down his uniform, ready to face the day. Again.

"Hey, Hakuba!"

An eyebrow twitched. The reason? One Kuroba Kaito: primary suspect as International Phantom Thief 1412, also known as Kaitou Kid. Well, primary suspect for Hakuba, at least.

"Kuroba-kun," he greeted.

"So, Aoko suggested I come collect you in order to do our study session." The magician grinned widely as he latched himself onto Hakuba's arm, much the way both he and said policeman's daughter had (tried) to escort Kuroba to the office earlier that morning. "Consider yourself collected!"

"Weren't you saying how I didn't have to come this morning?"

"So? That was this morning! This is now!"

Hakuba sighed as the possible-thief dragged him down the hall. Earlier that morning, when he'd helped Aoko escort Kuroba down to the office, was one of the few times where he'd really "caught" the Kaitou Kid. Of course, that was because Kuroba had _let_ himself be caught. If he truly hadn't wanted to go to the office, they'd have never been able to lay a hand on him. More circumstantial evidence, along with mannerisms and body language, painted a clear picture for Hakuba on exactly _who_ Kaitou Kid's alter ego was. Absolutely none of it, however, would stand up in court.

Therefore, Hakuba bided his time. Kuroba would slip eventually, and then there would be no more doubt.

With a hard yank, the magician spun him around the corner towards the library and Hakuba felt something odd. Looking down, he saw that his clothes were perfectly normal. Except....

With a free arm, he pulled at his black jacket and found that his crisp white shirt had been put on backwards and his white shirtsleeves still extended a half-inch from his jacket sleeves.

Hakuba sighed. His clothes were getting rumpled with all the pulling off and putting on. "Kuroba-kun, would you mind terribly if you refrained from touching my clothes?"

Ever playful, Kuroba only smiled and put his hand on Hakuba's shoulder. "Why, Hakuba! Are you scared I'll touch something I'm not supposed to?"

The British detective said nothing. Kuroba's teasing, after all, was nothing compared to the refined wit and razor sharp tongue of one of his aunts back in England. He merely offered a flat stare that seemed to make Kuroba laugh all the more.

"He's scared you'll touch his heart," a breathy, smoky voice offered.

Both turned to see the dark red hair of Koizumi Akako.

"Koizumi-kun," Kuroba greeted coolly. Another puzzle for Hakuba. The magician was always bright, open and friendly to everyone except for the popular young woman. Even those who treated Kuroba poorly, such as Minagami-senpai, were often greeted with Kuroba's attempts to make them smile, laugh or ease whatever tension existed. Koizumi was the only one that Kuroba did no such overtures for. It made Hakuba wonder.

The redhead turned to the British detective, though she was still speaking to Kuroba. "He doesn't know the strength of his own heart. He views it as too weak and fragile to handle a friendship with someone such as you, so keeps his professional distance." She turned to the magician. "The same way you are keeping a professional distance from someone else. But yours isn't a fear of friendship. Yours is a fear of how desperately you crave it."

Kuroba rolled his eyes. "Koizumi-kun, as always, you make absolutely no sense. Hakuba and I are going to study with Aoko. Do you mind?"

Koizumi leaned into Kaito's personal space and he continued to look at her with a small, blank smile. "That person is a danger to you. You could have the friendship you so desperately crave with me."

The magician took a step back, letting go of Hakuba, and gave a formal, polite bow. "Sorry you have wasted your time, Koizumi-kun, but Hakuba and I must be going." Without waiting, Kuroba sidestepped and continued down the hall. Hakuba also gave a polite bow to the redhead before following, his thoughts pondering.

The conversation had been... odd. Koizumi was, if nothing else, extremely perceptive, despite her claims of sorcery. If he were entirely honest with himself, Hakuba would agree that he was worried (_not_ scared) of any sort of friendship with Kuroba. After all, the possible thief was very likable in his own contrary sort of way. Hakuba had to _work_ to keep his professionalism and distance, to not let his guard down. Because if he did, then he may falter in making the arrest; in capturing Kaitou Kid. So instead, he observed the charismatic Kuroba, looking for slips and similarities so that he might finally obtain evidence.

If (without _ever_ admitting it out loud) Koizumi's comments about his feelings on Kuroba were true, then there was the possibility that her comments on Kuroba and some unnamed person were also true. But it made no sense without some sort of context on whom Koizumi was referring to that was a danger to Kuroba. Was that person a danger to Kuroba as Kuroba or as Kid? What sort of danger was he or she, and why did Kuroba seek friendship with someone who was dangerous to him?

As always with anything in regards to Kuroba, Hakuba was left with more questions than answers.

Hakuba glanced back at the alluring redhead. What did she know that he didn't, and how did she know it?

Koizumi was her own set of mysteries, something that Hakuba pondered when his attention wasn't on Kaitou Kid and his alter ego of Kuroba Kaito. She claimed to be a sorceress, and if the girls in class were any indication, she was a real one because her charms supposedly never failed. Of course, Hakuba remained completely nonplussed on that account, because he knew that the power of belief and placebos were the most likely cause of Koizumi's "effective charms". Similarly, he couldn't argue that she definitely had the male population of their school rather effectively under her thumb. Except Kuroba and himself, of course.

The redhead looked at him and their eyes locked for a brief moment. She was definitely an interesting character. If he didn't require all his wits and focus on his magical classmate, he wouldn't mind studying her.

Koizumi raised an eyebrow at him and both bowed to each other at the same time, the redheaded "sorceress" turning to go about her business as Hakuba turned to continue following Kuroba into the library.

Aoko was in a back corner of the library, in sight of the door but far enough away from the normal mass of students so as to provide some level of privacy. She waved them over with a cheerful smile, books spread out in front of her on the circular table.

Kuroba lowered his voice in respect of the library as they approached. "Hey, Aoko. I collected our table ornament here," he pointed at Hakuba.

The detective merely gave a smug smirk. "Aoko-kun, thank you once again for your kind invitation."

"No problem," Aoko shrugged. "Let's take a look at how much you were able to do while in England and Kaito and I will try and fill you in."

As they sat, Hakuba took notice of Kuroba, like he normally did. The magician sat with his back to the window on one side of Aoko. He shoved a chair over and put his feet up on it, simultaneously looking utterly relaxed while giving himself plenty of room to move as the energetic possible-thief was want to do. Hakuba sat on the other side of the policeman's daughter, pulling out his own books to start comparing notes.

Things actually went fairly well. With Aoko to act as intermediary, the private Kid-vs-NotKid war was temporarily shelved. Hakuba was able to catch up on the work that he had missed while visiting his mother and the three of them started perfecting their current studies. Hakuba would only admit under extreme duress that he was impressed that Kuroba and Aoko could remain so intelligent despite their frequent disruptions during class. For someone clever enough to be Kaitou Kid, this wasn't a surprise, but it spoke very well of Aoko that she did so well despite the chaos that she and Kuroba could induce in class.

Aoko really was someone admirable. She was intelligent and strong and not at all like the girls that Hakuba normally came across in Japan, whose purpose seemed to be to come across as someone who needed protection. The British detective hated this sort of traditional view that the woman's only place was at home and taking care of the children. Aoko didn't fit this mold; instead she stated what she thought and if you didn't like it, tough. It was an unfortunate aspect of both halves of his heritage, the unfailing commitment to tradition and propriety. While Hakuba approved of traditions, that didn't mean that one ignored how things changed. And viewing _anyone_ as second class or beneath you just because they were different was something that he couldn't _stand_. His biracial status made him aware of how stupid it was to judge anyone without getting to know them and their character.

"Ano..."

The three looked up to see Minagami Junko there, blushing and glancing back and forth between Kuroba and Aoko.

"Hey, Junko-chan," Aoko smiled brightly. "What can we do for you?"

"I... I..." Her high cheekbones getting redder, the karate practitioner gave a small sigh and bowed. "I apologize for my big brother's deplorable behavior. None of you deserve his bad temper. I'm sorry."

Kuroba shrugged. "Not your fault."

The girl blushed even harder.

"Junko."

Well, speak of the devil. Minagami himself walked over, taking his little sister's arm. "You," he said pointedly at her, "shouldn't disgrace yourself by associating with _him_," he jerked a thumb to Kuroba.

Scowling up at her brother, Junko hissed, "Onii-san! You're being rude!" She glanced at their table again. "I'm sorry--"

Minagami pulled at her arm. "You have no need to apologize to him or anyone who's with him and neither do I."

"Hey," Kuroba stood easily to his feet. "Look, I've already apologized to you," he said with a small smile. "And I've done so repeatedly. You don't want to accept it, that's your choice," and with a wave of a hand, a potted flower appeared on Minagami's head. "You _should_ treat your family a little nicer, however."

The stoic upperclassman, however, wasn't expecting it and shifted, making the flower tip over and the pot shatter on the floor.

"Kuroba," Minagami growled. "You continue to try and disgrace my family. Leave us _be_!"

Aoko rose to Kuroba's defense. "Hey!" she shouted. "He may be an annoying idiot magician, but Kaito hasn't done anything other than his usual magic or jokes! He's not disgracing you, senpai, please stop saying he that is!"

Hakuba stood, ready to say something, else Junko's red face burst from embarrassment.

Kaito, however, beat him too it, draping himself around Aoko's shoulders. "Don't worry about it, Aoko. Kakeru-senpai's just being contrary. I know all about being contrary, so as long as he says to stay away, I'll understand what he contrarily means, and keep sticking close by. And if he asks to hang out, I'll be nice and contrary and hang out! See, matter settled!"

"Hardly," Hakuba muttered, but the desired reaction was a small spattering of giggles from the other students in the library, effectively reminding the fuming Minagami that they _were_ in public. Hakuba loved it when propriety set it.

"Kuroba," he growled quietly. "I _swear_... Some day..."

Whatever the upperclassman was going to say, however, was cut off by a teacher weaving through the desks and shelves. "Junko-chan, Kakeru-kun, I'm glad I found you together! I wanted to talk to the two of you about that karate tournament the two of you will be entering."

Minagami had composed himself and turned. "Of course, Katanaka-sensei. Come on, Junko." And with a firm tug on her arm, the siblings met the young teacher partway and left the library.

The three sat down at the table once more.

"Poor Junko-chan," Aoko said after a moment. "It's really too bad that her brother is such a jerk."

"And domineering," Hakuba added. "He runs her life very efficiently. To say nothing of the traditions they live by."

Kuroba shrugged. "She'll get away from them when she graduates. She's too shy to stand up to him, so she'll do better once she's on her own. It'll be hell for her in the meantime." A puff of smoke and the flower and broken pot were gone. "I believe we were looking at derivatives?"

Hakuba frowned. Something about the confrontation didn't set well with him. And he wouldn't know what until much later.

* * *

Aoko closed the door behind her, not bothering to call out a greeting, since she knew her father wouldn't be home until much later that evening. Hakuba had departed after their study session to head back to his lab to work on something and Kaito had hung out with her for a while before saying he wanted to work some more on his variation of the Magic Bullet. Aoko hadn't minded, since it gave her a chance to do some shopping. She unloaded her grocery bags in the kitchen, put things away and went upstairs to change.

_Finally, no more skirt_, she thought to herself as she slipped on her favorite jeans. She had always been too much of a tomboy to have the patience and propriety for such evil things as skirts and dresses. Frankly, all that 'girly' stuff never really caught her eye as a child, especially when climbing trees and running around the park was so much fun. With only her father raising her, she'd never had much in the way of feminine influence. Oh, Aoko understood that there were times that she had to look nice, like for a party or special occasion, but if given the choice, she'd never battle with makeup, hairspray, or tights.

Heading back downstairs, Aoko went towards the kitchen when a small pulsing light caught her attention. Surprised to see a message on the answering machine, she pressed the play button.

"_Aoko. I'm going to be even later than usual tonight. I'm having dinner brought to the station. Don't wait up_."

Typical. Just typical. She went and bought all that food to prepare her father's favorite dinner, but he wasn't going to be home. She scowled at the answering machine, hoping it would somehow spontaneously combust. If only she had a mop handy....

And all at once, her anger dispersed, leaving her feeling rather empty. Like her home. _Another dinner for one_, she thought glumly. Instead of going to the kitchen, she went to the living room and sank into the sofa. _One more dinner alone. You'd think I'd be used to it..._ She stared up at the ceiling, listening to the silence of her home. A clock ticked, the heater rattled, and the compressor for the fridge droned on.

Under most circumstances, Aoko would just sigh, get herself dinner, and watch television or listen to music or do _something_ to fill up the silence. That day, however, she just didn't have the strength. It was Saturday; the following day was usually her father's day off and she just had to last. Then the house wouldn't be so quiet. So lonely.

"Aaaaaargh!" Sitting up in a huff, Aoko stormed over to the entryway, put on her sneakers, grabbed her coat, scarf, and hat, and stomped outside into the cold winter air. The frigidness cooled her sharp steps but didn't stave the anger at herself. She _wasn't_ going to let herself feel sorry for herself, so she was _going_ to distract herself, and if there was _one person_ she could count on for a distraction, she was going to see him.

It wasn't a long walk next door and, while she had a set of keys and had been told constantly that she had an open invitation, she still knocked politely.

"Come on in, Aoko-kun!" called a light alto voice.

Smiling, Aoko opened the door and toed out of her shoes. "Thanks, Obaa-san!" she called. Her winter wear was tossed onto the sofa and she followed her nose into the kitchen. "Smells delicious," she said.

"Thank you," Kaito's mother said with a kind smile. "Kaito only just got home. He should be down in a minute."

"Sure thing," she replied. As was customary whenever Aoko barged in at dinner time, she felt it was her obligation to set the table, so she headed for the cabinets and drawers to start pulling out plates, cups, and silverware.

"Hey Mom!" a voice called from upstairs. "Did I just hear Aoko?"

"What do you think, you idiot?" Aoko called back smiling.

"Ack!" With a loud series of thuds and swears, Kaito appeared in a heap at the bottom of the steps.

"Now, now, children," called Kaito's mother from the kitchen. "I just replaced the vase from last time. Please wait a month before you partake in battle again."

"Mooooooom!"

"Don't worry, Obaa-san. I'll abstain as long as he doesn't start it."

"Aoookoooooo!!"

She gave a small chuckle before taking pity on his floored form. Offering her hand she helped him up, ignoring his mutterings of how he _wasn't_ always the one who started it. Aoko squeezed his hand rather firmly and he took the hint to shut up.

She smiled as they sat down for dinner. Kaito, outside of her father, was probably the only person she understood completely. That probably came from being friends for so long, but it was nice to know someone so well. Keiko would come in as a close second, but Keiko tended towards boy-crazy. Aoko knew she was being a late bloomer in that score. Boys were just people, the same way girls were. Someday she'd probably start to look around and actually _notice_ a guy, but for now those senses hadn't awakened in her and that was fine with Aoko. It made her life blissfully uncomplicated. No who-loves-who debates to angst over. Instead, she'd just hang out with her best friend Kaito; the two of them would continue to try and introduce Hakuba to the concept of human interactions.

"So, Kaito, how'd your research go this afternoon?" she asked.

The magician scowled. "Horrible," he grumbled. "I went to all the usual places and they just _didn't_ have what I was looking for."

Not liking seeing her childhood friend upset over anything, Aoko suggested, "Well, why not talk to some magicians in town? Maybe one of them knows this Magic Bullet trick of yours and you can--"

"No son of _mine_ is going to be working with _bullets_, magic or otherwise, _at all_," Kaito's mother stated firmly with a clink of her teacup. Silence hovered around the table as both teenagers looked in shock at the woman. Kaito's mother was _never_ this firm, normally taking a sort of kind-chastising tone that usually worked wonders in putting the magician in his place.

"Mom... I--"

"Kaito," she looked at him sadly. "I understand and encourage your love of magic. But your father always made it a point to stay away from the more 'dangerous' brand of magic. The kind where you shoot people or drive spikes through them and miraculously come out fine. He always said that kind of display dirtied the real magic." With a small sigh, she sat back. "Magic is about inspiring wonder and fascination. That kind of dangerous magic _is_ risky and it also inspires the audience to fear for the practitioner on at least a small level. It's for adults who like more of a thrill of adrenaline and isn't appropriate for children at all."

Standing, Kaito's mother came over to Kaito's chair and leaned over to hug him. "You take after your father so much, my sweet, sweet boy. So draw in an audience for the thrill of wonder and not the thrill of fear. Make sure that _everyone's safe_, and above all else, _include yourself_ in making everything safe."

Aoko looked down at her plate, feeling extremely out of place. In many ways, Kaito's parents had been her parents while growing up. With her mother gone and her father often away, she'd essentially grown up in Kaito's house. She loved the magician's parents as much as her own and it had hit her just as hard as Kaito when they'd learned that his father had died.

Kaito's mother had been understandably inconsolable. She had cried, wailed and screamed out her grief late into the night. Aoko herself had been a ball of tears, but little Kaito had just stood there, his face slack in shock and Aoko hadn't been able to help herself as she pulled him into a tight hug and kept sobbing that everything would be okay. Because when she had lost her mother she had felt her world collapsing, but things were okay. And that night she had been right back in that world-shattering pain, but that time, she knew it would be okay because she'd been through it before. And Kaito had her there to help.

She had lost two parents, in a way. Aoko didn't know what she would do if she ever lost her father or Kaito. Because she would be right back in that pit again and even if she knew that everything would be okay, she had to wonder what star she was born under that would make her lose so much.

But her father chased after Kaitou Kid, a non-violent, extremely irritating, and annoying thief. Kaito was a stupid magician who took risks, but never beyond what he knew he could handle.

Aoko continued to find her plate fascinating as she heard a hitch of breath from Kaito that almost sounded like a sob. A small cough. "Sorry, Mom." His voice was so quiet. "Don't worry. That trick won't be in my arsenal."

She wondered how he made his voice sound so steady after all that. She was still fighting back her own tears. Even after all these years, being reminded of the Great Kuroba Toichi had a _lot_ of emotion attached to it. Mostly because Kaito usually buried his pain so much that Aoko just couldn't help expressing what he _should_ be expressing. But to cut through his defensive walls enough for him to almost break said something on how his mother's little speech affected him. How much it meant to him.

And to her. Because she missed her pseudo-father just as much. Kaito's mother didn't speak of magic often, but when she did, it was like Kaito's father was in the room with them.

Aoko rubbed at her eyes, clearing away any vestiges of her tears. A quiet, deep breath, a large smile, and she looked up. Kaito was still wrapped in his mother's embrace, his face oddly sad and happy at the same time. "Why don't I get some dessert?" she said quickly. "I saw some cherry pie in the pantry and I think that should round off dinner nicely." She stood up and went to the kitchen, clearing her plates as she did so.

For all that she knew Kaito like the back of her hand, she understood that there were things he kept very private. Most anything that dealt with his father in any way fell very heavily under the Private Category, because Kaito always strove to be the happy fool who made people laugh. He never shared his pain, and sometimes it just _hurt_ to watch him bury it all. So she smiled for him. It was the least that she could do. He was her best friend, after all.

Sniffling, she bustled about the kitchen she knew as well as her own and sliced the cherry pie she had spied earlier. While she heated the three slices in the microwave, she went to the freezer on a whim and pulled out some chocolate ice cream. One healthy scoop for each slice with a little whip cream and, instead of a cherry on top, she pulled out some strawberries. It was a rather odd combination, but Aoko wasn't really thinking properly, she was too busy putting on her happy face for Kaito.

She had just put her last strawberry in the whip cream when tears came to her eyes again. Sniffling, she buried her face in her arms. "Dammit," she scolded herself. "_Not now_. Not when he _needs_ me..."

Cold fingers invaded her sweater and chilled the small of her back before tickling her sides.

"YIPE!!" Turning quickly and swiping the offending hands, she glared at her best friend. "_Kaitooooooo_!!"

And came up short.

He was slouched, hands buried in his pockets, like always, but his face was blank. No half-smirking smile, like he normally did when hiding things, or grieving eyes like moments earlier. Just blank, he like hadn't decided what expression to make yet. "I'm not really fair to you, am I?" he said quietly.

Aoko blinked, not sure what he meant. "Huh?"

A shrug. "My dad. I'm not the only one who misses him."

"Kaito--"

"You know you've been there for me since the night he died?" He gave a small, sad smile. "Saying everything would be okay. Always trying to help me through the grief because you've been there before." The smile faded. "I haven't really done a good job of being there for you."

Aoko said nothing, her jaw somewhere on the floor.

"I mean, I've been so caught up in looking up new magic tricks, trying them out. Couple months ago I was out of town for a while to help Mom with anemic relatives. I've kinda been taking you for granted, haven't I?"

She picked up her jaw and let out a sigh. "You idiot," she muttered with a small grin. "I'll always be there for you. Best friends, remember? You'll get retribution if you ever take me for granted."

He had the presence of mind to wince. "Now can you help me bring in the pie, or are you going to try and stick your cold hands up my shirt again?" He smiled more genuinely and grabbed a pair of plates while Aoko grabbed the third and the tea kettle to refill their cups. As she followed her best friend in, she couldn't help the warm glow that had spread through her.

* * *

After Kaito had entertained them all through dessert, (which involved dis-and-reappearing doves, juggled plates of ice cream covered pie, and the show stopping arrival of the TV remote in Aoko's forkful of pie - she had nearly chipped her teeth on it so she believed herself justified at implanting the device in his forehead since a mop wasn't handy) and they had played several board games together (under the express condition that Aoko rolled the dice for Kaito so that they all had a fair shot at winning), relaxing around the kotatsu.

Feeling warmed and full, Aoko had bid them all goodnight and headed back down the sidewalk to her own home. It was getting late and her house looked friendly and inviting with the lights on. Kaito, being the gentleman, escorted her to her front door, despite her repeated protests that she'd be fine walking a few hundred feet down the street.

She was surprised to see her father just getting out of his shoes when she opened the front door, and he looked rather surprised as well.

"Aoko, I'm glad you still up. I was going to wake you."

"Dad? I thought you'd be home later. Is everything okay?"

Her father shuffled out of the entryway to give her room with a sigh, clamping down on his pipe. "I tried to get out of it," he grumbled. "But I just came home to pack a few things. My boss is sending me to a conference out in Sendai for a few days."

All the warm feelings she collected bled out of her. "But dad! Tomorrow's your day off! What about--" she cut herself off. He had tried to get out of it. But when your boss says jump, you say "How high?"

"I'm sorry, Aoko. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

He'd said that many times before. And he was sincere.

"When's your flight?" she asked, putting on a smile. "Or will you take the train? I can make a snack for you."

"That's alright, honey," her father leaned in and hugged her. "My flight is in a couple hours. I _wish_ they didn't spring this on me today. I've got enough time to pack and haul my sorry ass down there for all that airport shit you have to go through."

"Why don't you take a shower, dad? I'll pack you a bag."

"That sounds marvelous," her father said, his fatigue creeping into his voice.

He ruffled her hair and she pouted at him before he turned and headed upstairs.

Aoko stood there in the entryway.

Deep breath. Turning to lock the door, her eyes widened when she saw that Kaito was still there. "Sorry," she said, a smile appearing on her face. "I guess I can't invite you in for tea. I'll see you Monday at school." She closed the door, not willing to get emotional in front of her best friend for the second time that evening. _Come _on_ Aoko. Cheer up. Why are you so mopey today? Get a grip, this doesn't usually bother you!_

But she couldn't shake the feeling that, somehow, she was going to lose someone close to her again.

**

* * *

Author's Note**: And we're back. Sorry for the delay. We told many of you to expect this around New Year's, but our beta-reader took November off and we were pushing hard to get our usual 5-chapter buffer set up. So we're a little later than expected. -.- Gomen yo. At least you all had _The Price of Truth_ to keep you entertained in the mean time. ^_^ With our buffer in place, we shall be continuing our every-two-weeks update schedule. Of course, given the title of this story, (and the teaser), you probably already know at least a little of what's going to happen. But hopefully we'll have plenty of surprises as you read. Writing Kaito, as always, is fun. Writing Aoko or Hakuba, however, is a different matter. Aoko is a bright and happy personality, though easily frustrated, but when you REALLY look, she's often left alone. That makes her very easy to slip into angst/brooding, and that's out of character for her. We try not to pile it on too thick, but she's bound to feel alone once in a while. Bleh. And don't get us started on Hakuba. There are SO many different interpretations of him in the fandom that trying to lock down what even his basic personality is like was entirely too difficult. We've struggled with him throughout this story and the next. Meh. .

In any case, the story has started, and certain seeds have been planted. Now to just watch them grow.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

It bothered him.

Kaito sat cross-legged on his bed, chin and mouth buried in a hand as he stared out at the quarter-moon as it lifted herself over the rooflines. All thoughts of magic bullets and heists and shrunken detectives were long since gone from his mind, because said mind was too full of _it_: that _look_ on her face. And it _bothered_ him.

Aoko wasn't supposed to have that kind of face: that face of masked-loneliness. And if there was one thing Kaito understood, it was masks and how to recognize them. Aoko _shouldn't_ be lonely. She'd done nothing to deserve it. She was a bright, happy, willful person, but to see her just stand there in the genkan, shoulders sagging under that empty weight... And then to see her turn, see him, and slap on a smile. It bothered him. What kind of best friend was he if he didn't try to ease that loneliness? He _knew_ he caused a lot of it by taking her father out on heists. There was no way Nakamori would let a chance to collar him slip away. But if Kaito was so damn aware of how she hated losing her precious time with her father, why didn't he _do_ something? He just took it for granted that she'd be fine.

He never realized how much he took her for granted and took advantage of her. He had always just assumed she'd be there because she always was, even before his father was so viciously ripped from his life. He'd watched her grieve for her mother (on reflection he hadn't really done much for her at the time) and no, the excuse that he was only five did not mean anything. But Aoko had pulled him out bodily from the despair that he'd felt when The News had arrived about his father.

His advantage-taking had only been compounded with his night job; he was forever ducking her notice or lying to her or just outright ditching her (even that time when she handcuffed herself to him) and he just willfully ignored the fact that there would be repercussions for those decisions because anything was better than putting her in a place where she had to choose between him and her father.

But seeing her standing at the doorway, watching her silent admission of defeat as she saw her father off, was... was... it just _bothered_ him.

Growling softly, he flopped back onto his bed, digging his hands under his hair, Tsukiyomi still streaming her light across his face. He looked to the moon. "You got any ideas to get that fake smile off her face?" he asked.

The moon offered no response, continuing her climb up into the sky. Scowling, Kaito turned from her and tried to get some sleep.

* * *

The next morning found him in jeans and one of his father's sweaters under his overcoat and knocking at his next-door neighbor's house.

"Kaito...?" A sleep starved Aoko blearily welcomed him when the door opened. The tomboy was never a morning person, and being up late as Kaito knew she had been had only compounded things: her oversized sweater was lopsided, one cream-colored shoulder bare while the rest of the sweater was not quite pulled all the way down, exposing a thin line of her stomach. "Brr, it's cold this morning," she shivered, adjusting the sweater and oblivious to Kaito's suddenly flushed face. Geez, thief boy, what was the problem? "What do you want?" she muttered, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

Recovered from... whatever that reaction was, Kaito put on a gentleman's grin and bowed deeply to her. "We're almost ready to depart, milady," he said with great pomp and circumstance.

She blinked at him. "......... Huh?"

"Your Magical Mystery Entertainment Tour will be departing shortly; you'd better finish dressing yourself." He lifted his head, a grin of mirth on his features as he added, "Unless you like exposing your midriff to the public?"

Aoko stopped in mid-yawn, flushing at the comment as she automatically looked down to assess herself, realizing belatedly that she was scratching her stomach and showing more of that cream colored skin. Kaito stared right along with her, for reasons he didn't know.

"Augh, you pervert!" she yelped, taking a swing at him. He'd been so busy staring at the shape of her naval that he was smacked beautifully above his ear. Using it to his advantage, however, he fell dramatically and stayed on the frozen ground for several moments feigning unconsciousness.

Aoko refused to rise to the bait. "Oh, get up already," she said, much more awake now. A beautiful flush was still on her cheeks. "And get in here; you're letting all the cold air in."

Grinning, Kaito sprang to his feet and followed her in, unbuttoning his overcoat but leaving it on as he followed his best friend to the kitchen, listening to her annoyed mutterings.

"Stupid magic pervert takes every chance to peek at an innocent girl; why I ought to give him a concussion for all the times-"

Kaito grinned - this was too good to pass up. "It's not like it's anything I haven't seen before," he said in a bored tone, putting his gloved hands behind his head and watching the stage-worthy reaction blossom on Aoko's face.

"You... you mean you've..."

"Sure," he said glibly, "lots of times." He waited, watching all the delicious expressions on Aoko's face, before he delivered the punch line. "Don't you remember? Our moms would bathe us together."

And then, the beautiful flush of anger. "_Kaaaaaitoooooooo!!_" And all he could do was laugh as he began dodging. The chase took him through most of the house, jumping furniture and ducking under the swipe of a broom or a dustpan (being hit with the broom was one thing, but the dustpan was metal and it would _hurt_) for a good ten minutes before it finally wound down. Their current record was a memorable forty minute chase through middle school, but they both silently agreed that the school budget wasn't large enough for that kind of fun and since then they'd learned to curb themselves. A little.

Aoko offered him a hot cup of tea, though both were warm enough from the exertion that neither needed it, and asked, "Why are you here? Other than to tick me off?"

Kaito actually almost paused before he answered, not because he didn't know why he was there, but he didn't know _why_ he was there, what emotional string it had been that had precipitated this particular visit. But he just didn't want to see that _face_ on Aoko, the one where she put her loneliness aside in favor of seeing someone off or cheering someone up. It was loneliness he was all too familiar with; even more so with his night job and distancing himself from his loved ones. Standing on the front porch, watching as Aoko calmly and softly closed the door to his face and closed the door to her loneliness; it pulled at something he didn't have a name for.

He almost paused, but he didn't. "Don't be an idiot," he said brightly, poking her nose with a finger. "The Magical Mystery Entertainment Tour."

She rolled her eyes. "And what's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means you trust me while I take you on a Magical Mystery Entertainment Tour."

"Trust you?" she said flatly, raising an eyebrow. But ultimately she just smiled - one much more sincere and frankly much nicer looking than the one she wore the previous night - and said, "Let me get my coat."

* * *

Within ten minutes they were out in the bitter cold and walking five blocks down to the bus station. The skies were overcast and grey, with the scent of snow in the air.

"Where are we going anyway?" Aoko asked, her blue-grey eyes still slightly suspicious.

"That's the Mystery part of this tour," Kaito offered theatrically.

It was a twenty-minute bus ride before they took the train deeper into the city. Aoko tried to needle him about where they were going, but the magician held firm, entertaining her with slight of hand and card tricks to pass the time. His mind multi-tasked in the meantime, listing out options and pros and cons of various things.

Origami cranes appeared in pockets of various people on the bus as Kaito let a corner of his mind tackle the Rock Concert Opportunity. Come on, a full audience! And not just fans swooning and waiting for him to take them home (Ew, can we say, "No Way In Hell"? Yes, we can...), but a proper and full audience wanting to see a _show_. It was rare for a jewel that caught his interest to show up in such an arena instead of boring old museums or body-guarded people, or plain old exhibits. No, this had _potential_. And given how many people could be held in the Budokan (over fourteen thousand, oh yeah!) his mind was flitting from one outrageous idea to another.

Kaito was just bursting to _share_ this with someone, and as he made a dove appear from under Aoko's sweater, he knew he could never say a word. He wanted to talk about illusions, maybe making the audience disappear versus making the stage transform into a giant mechanical dinosaur and what would be better? Or maybe magically making all the instruments play old folksongs instead of rock 'n' roll. Or maybe with a shower of confetti making _two_ rock singers and asking the audience to judge which is the real one (he might get a whole new career out of that...)? Or maybe....

But none of this could burst out. Even rewording it to a conversation about some sort of ideal magic trick in a fantasy show might leave enough of a memory in Aoko's mind to start putting things together, so he held his tongue. (Or rather, he stuck it out at her after she commented on how small-scale his tricks seemed to be that day. In proper response, he transported the person across the aisle from them to the front of the bus.)

Kaito sighed internally, shuffling a deck of cards while hiding them on Aoko's person for later tricks. He hated to see her lonely; it was why he was taking her out. But on a selfish level, it was because her loneliness reminded him of his own. Deciding to take the path of Kaitou Kid had drawn up a wall around those around him. It was a massively huge section of his current life, and it wasn't one he could share. Not with people who mattered. But his loneliness was his _own_ choice. It was _his_ decision to take up his father's mantel, hunt down his father's killers, and ensure that _no one else_ lost someone because of a mythical gem. Aoko, however, didn't make the choice. She didn't ask for her father to be obsessed with catching Kaito's alter ego. She didn't ask for her mother to die, or Kaito's father. She didn't ask for him to be pulling away from her.

Which was, perhaps, why it bothered him so badly when he saw that look on her face when her father announced his last minute trip to Sendai. His loneliness was something he needed to do. Aoko's wasn't and it sure as hell didn't suit her.

Finally, they arrived at the right station and, ever the polite tour guide, Kaito put a blindfold on Aoko with the snap of a finger, putting his hand on the small of her back and guiding her into the thick crowd of people. With Magical and Mystery out of the way, it was time for Entertainment. Kaito received many an odd stare from people as he guided the blindfolded (and oblivious) Aoko around, but he, as always, cared little of what people thought and either offered a Cheshire grin or simply stuck his tongue out at the glares.

Only when they arrived at their destination did he take the blindfold off with a flourish, standing in front of Aoko's field of vision before offering a kind grin and saying, "Milady, the Tour has reached its next destination." He stepped out of her immediate sight and watched as she blinked in open surprise at their destination.

"GiGO Junior?" she read. "You took me to an arcade?"

Kaito grinned. "Well, I couldn't afford the real GiGO, and I did say it was an Entertainment Tour. Come on."

For the next three hours, Kaito and Aoko whiled away their yen playing games ranging from tournament fighters where Kaito deliberately played the sexiest girl character available to tick Aoko off, to laughably terrible shooters where Aoko laid claim that he was cheating because he was such a good shot, to classic Pac-Man games where Kaito lamented loudly that there was no _way_ Aoko had memorized all the patterns of the ghosts in order to beat the levels in record time, to dancing and rhythm games where they were both either embarrassingly good or embarrassingly bad, depending on the song.

Afterward, when they were low on cash and high on spirits, Kaito treated Aoko to lunch, a tiny back alley ramen stand that could barely seat a half dozen people that smelled of noodles and cabbage and spices. Kaito placed the orders while Aoko squished herself into a stool. When the food arrived, Kaito lifted his chopsticks. "Here's to a day of distraction!" he said cheerily, finally showing his hand.

Aoko blinked, putting the words together and mentally backtracking to that morning, and likely the previous night. The smile that fell onto her face was soft and warm, and Kaito felt something in his chest swell.

"So _that's_ was this was all about," she said, jabbing her chopsticks at him in playful accusation. "Kaito... thanks."

The part time thief grinned. "Good, 'cause you're paying for lunch."

"What?! Why you--!"

"Ah, I thought I heard familiar voices. To think that we'd meet!" The two teenagers looked up in startled surprise to see their teacher, Katanaka-sensei, in an ankle-length wool skirt and a deep blue shawl, standing at the counter waiting for an order. "What brings you here?" she asked.

"She's treating me to lunch," Kaito offered with a wide grin of mirth.

"I am _not_--!"

"Careful, Aoko-kun," the teacher said, "or Kaito-kun will just throw another jibe at you."

The girl opened her mouth to retort, but realized the truth in Katanaka-sensei's words and opted for silence; she was not, however, above throwing lethal glares in his direction that he glibly ignored. "Why are you out here?" Kaito asked.

"I was gaming," the teacher said, her order arriving. She opted to sit at the counter, not two feet from the pair's tiny table.

"Oh, you were at the arcade, sensei?" Aoko asked.

"Oh yes," she answered, stirring her oden with her chopsticks. "People often mistake me for a teenager, even though I'm almost thirty. I love videogames, though, and there's a room in the top floor for network gaming. It may not look it, but I'm a big fan of first person shooters, and I was playing against some Americans in one of their popular games. You wouldn't know the title."

Aoko blinked. "You like shooters?"

"I like the co-op," Katanaka-sensei replied. At Kaito and Aoko's blank looks, she explained. "I like going online and cooperating with other players and thinking and out-maneuvering an opponent. It takes a bright mind to be able to do it, and it's a nice mental exercise for me. Do either of you play videogames? What do you like to play?"

Aoko shrugged. "I'm not much of a gamer, though I do like tournament fighters when _someone_," she leveled a glare at a certain magician thief, "isn't trying to goad me."

Kaito said and did nothing, which only irked his best friend even more. "I always liked puzzle games. I have a DS somewhere in my room that I pull out and play sometimes." Not so much now, with him playing much more entertaining games. Actually, that gave him an idea for the note he'd send to Nakamori; but that would come much later. First he needed to decide what to do at the rock concert. There were so _many_ possibilities.

"Puzzles, that reminds me," Katanaka said as she sipped on her noodles. Kaito and Aoko did the same. "You both are friends with Saguru-kun, right?"

"Of course!" Aoko chirped happily. Kaito found himself irking against his will at such a plucky response.

"Then you'll want to hear this: he and Kakeru-kun and Junko-kun have been invited to a martial arts tournament that's going to be held at Budokan. It's a prefecture championship."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Aoko said, sincerely excited. Kaito was uncomfortable with the sting of... jealousy? Of what? It pinched at the base of his rib cage when he listened to her tone.

"Just wonderful," he muttered.

Katanaka-sensei nodded in agreement, oblivious to Kaito's increasingly flat look. "It's karate, judo, and akido, I think. We were the only school to get three students to attend, so we all have to go and cheer them on."

"Suuuure," Kaito offered in dry commentary, watching Aoko continue to light up at the idea of Hakuba being presented the opportunity to show off to the school. Geez, she never looked _that_ happy whenever _he_ was showing off. Then a switch flipped. "Wait," he said quickly, "Did you say the Budokan?"

"Yes?"

... Never mind! This was too good an opportunity to pass up. He could case the building without an excuse and canvas the area, helping him plan the heist. He put a bright grin on his face. "We'll be sure to give our full support to Hakuba."

Aoko turned a flat glare to him, having noticed the one-eighty. "No."

"No what?" Kaito asked innocently.

"No to whatever trick, prank, idea, or joke that just popped into your head," she said, leveling a chopstick at him. "Hakuba-kun should be focusing on the tournament and doing his best, not looking over his shoulder for whatever gimmick you have in mind. Besides, you shouldn't be embarrassing him in public like that!"

Kaito allowed himself a blink before putting on a bright and decidedly _devilish_ grin on his face. "Why, Aoko! What a brilliant idea!!"

"Kaaaaitoooo..."

"It's too bad, though," Katanaka-sensei said, finally regaining their attention. "When I talked to Saguru-kun after school he explained he couldn't make it because of a prior engagement. It seems he's been invited to a conference on the Kaitou Kid and other Phantom Thieves in Yokohama, so he won't be able to attend."

The pair of teenagers blinked at the added sound byte of news, and Kaito's grin actually managed to widen as he started to snicker. "Too chicken to show!" he managed to sputter. Oh, he was _not_ going to let Hakuba live this one down, he could milk this for _weeks_ if he wanted to!

"Kaaaaitoooo..."

"Maa, maa, you two," the teacher said, putting her bowl down and adjusting her shawl. "It really is an opportunity for all of them; especially Junko-kun."

Aoko ripped her glare away from Kaito. "Junko-chan?"

"Yes, I hope so," Katanaka-sensei said softly, a gentle look on her face. "She's so shy and reserved. Their family is very traditional, and she doesn't really get many opportunities to shine like this; I'll be wishing her the best."

"Her and not Minagami-senpai?" Kaito couldn't help but ask.

The teacher started, an embarrassed flush coloring her cheek. "That's not what I meant," she stuttered. "It's just... she's so repressed, and Kakeru-kun is so willful."

"That's one way of putting it," Kaito happily offered. Aoko kicked him under the table. "What? He is!" he defended.

Aoko simply rolled her eyes. "Were they excited?" she posed the question to Katanaka-sensei.

The teacher smiled with a tad of irony. "It was hard to tell. Junko-kun, she became very flushed, I couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or excitement. Kakeru-kun was very happy for the opportunity; he immediately started bragging how he would win, but..." The teacher's eyes widened and she immediately closed her mouth. "I think I've said too much," she said softly, picking up her chopsticks again and resuming eating.

Kaito could only shrug. "He was an ass, right?" he said, leaving the girls to choke on their food. "Probably totally put down Junko-chan and said it was useless for her or that it wasn't her place or something like that, right?"

Katanaka struggled to put on a neutral face; the trained impersonator could see the anger flickering across the teacher's features as she remembered the conversation, and Kaito knew he was pretty close to the truth. What really made him curious was the look under the anger, something that looked almost like true rage; it was a look he didn't know until he'd learned of his father's death. Curious, he asked, "What? Did he piss you off too?"

"Kaito!" Aoko hissed.

"It's all right, Aoko-kun," Katanaka-sensei said quickly, raising a hand in a placating gesture. Turning to the teen magician, she answered, "You have a good intuition, Kaito-kun. Yes, he did make me mad; very mad, actually. Some of the things he said were terrible. I tried to intercede, but... we'll say he didn't respond well to it."

That said a lot for Kaito. Likely the upperclassman gave the teacher a long and extended opinion of his chauvinistic views, and that would tick off any woman. He wondered when Aoko would start chasing the guy with a mop. On second thought, he liked that such a habit was reserved only for him.

"Anyway," the teacher said, finishing her bowl and pulling out her wallet. "Now that I'm relaxed, I have a lot of school work left to do."

The three said their goodbyes and, after Kaito and Aoko chatted over the rest of their own meal, the pair got up to pay their bill and wander about the city. In keeping with their gaming theme, they window-shopped at various gaming and electronics stores, trying out digital cameras (to which Kaito was wondering if he should purchase one to make a photo album of his heists), and listening to music. It was just as Kaito found (and subsequently bought) a CD by a certain Mexican rock band that he noticed that he and Aoko had picked up a tail.

Kaito didn't have the ability to test his Watchman Radar, like he did with pint-sized detectives, but Kaito was a person who - even when he was lost in his own thoughts - was constantly aware of the people around him and what they were doing. He noticed if Person A was wearing tacky day-glow orange socks under their conformist three-piece suit, or if Person B suddenly ducked down a side alley in a rush; it was something that came naturally to him and helped him in his impersonations. So, when his eyes gravitated to a tweed overcoat, he couldn't help but break out into a face-splitting grin.

"Kaito, what are you grinning about now?" Aoko asked as she rifled through some CDs of her own.

"Oh, nothing much," he said with a too-innocent façade. "We're just being stalked."

"What??" He always loved her reactions.

"Come on," he said brightly, putting a hand on her far shoulder to turn her around. "Let's see if he follows us."

That was how the "chase" began. After Kaito pocketed his new CD and led Aoko out of the store, he happily guided her down the street and around the corner, watching via reflections of windows or a mirror he had palmed and looked through in a show of running a hand through his hair. Aoko was nervous, not liking the idea of being followed, but Kaito couldn't help but grin wider and wider as he watched his tail chase after them, keeping a very respective distance from them.

Aoko kept turning her head. "I can't see him," she said.

"Stop looking," Kaito offered, turning another corner, hand still on her shoulder to guide her, "he's pretty far away, so you won't see him at first glance."

"Then how did you see him?" the teen girl demanded. "Unless you're pulling my chain again."

"Not in the slightest," he said with a whimsical air, making her doubt his credibility even more. "I've almost got him cornered."

The tomboy blinked, eyes flattening in disbelief. "How does that follow?" she said in a low, threatening voice.

"Watch," he said lightly, finally putting on speed and turning into a video store. Said video store had a camera over the front door that displayed the street-view across all their flat-screen TVs. Using that to his advantage, Kaito paused to wave at the cameras before pulling a translocation trick, leaving reasonable copies of Aoko and himself in front of the store waving idiotically at the cameras while the real pair delved deeper into the store. Kaito pulled aside a clerk. "Yo," he said lightly. "Do you know where the bathroom is? My girlfriend here is suffering from major PMS and I thought--"

"_Kaitoooo!!_"

"--that she should check to see if she's bleeding yet."

The clerk had turned a scandalous shade of red and quickly gave directions of where to go, all the while Kaito dodged Aoko's enraged swings and thrusts with the nearest thing she could grab - a heavy-duty AC adapter which she was swinging around like a bola. When they arrived at the tiny service hall where the lavatory was, Kaito beckoned Aoko to stop swinging.

"Oh, come on, it's not like I haven't used the PMS trick before," he said lightly.

Curiously, that made Aoko turn even redder. "With whom?" she demanded.

"My mother," he answered lightly.

The shock of it all sucked all motion out of Aoko as she stared in dumbfounded horror. Really, her reactions were always the best!

Satisfied with the silence, however, Kaito boldly put a hand on the small of the girl's back and gently pushed her - not to the bathroom - but to the exit that was always in such a location. In a back street, Kaito doubled backed with Aoko in hand and, peeking around a corner, couldn't suppress a giggle as he found his tail.

"Let's see how long it takes before he figures out he was just ditched," he said lightly, finally pointing out his stalker to Aoko.

"Wait... is that...?"

The pair watched as Hakuba watched their doubles waving to the camera, a brow twitching under his blond bangs as he regarded the spectacle with obvious (to Kaito, at least) irritation.

"_That's_ our stalker?" Aoko asked in incredulity.

"Yep." Kaito said with a distinctly Cheshire grin.

The teen girl rolled her eyes. "Oh, for--" And then she stepped around the corner and away from Kaito. "Hakuba-kun!" she called out, making said teen turn around in suppressed shock. Kaito couldn't explain later why there was a prick of pain in his chest when Aoko left him like that, but he simply put on an annoyed face and followed after her.

"You're ruining the trick!" he called out.

"What trick," she demanded, pouting at him, "You were just going to make him stand there and wonder what we were doing."

"That was until you killed the next stage!" Kaito argued.

"Yeah? And what was the next stage?" Aoko bit back.

"Tar and feathers," he said with a perfectly straight face.

"You're impossible!"

"No, I'm a magician!"

"No," Hakuba said, finally recovering. "You're incorrigible."

Kaito scoffed. "Your opinion doesn't play into this," he offered.

Hakuba offered a grin that was entirely too confident. "Oh, poppycock," he retorted smugly, "my opinion matters because it matters to Aoko-kun." He nodded his head to her, offering the young woman a soft gaze before turning his grey-blue eyes to him.

Kaito was instantaneously surly, and Aoko was more than happy to ignore him in favor of the blonde's company, asking how he was doing and why he was out and about.

"Why don't you ask why he was tailing us," Kaito offered as he followed along behind them; walking by the dummies he saw in the TV store and making them disappear in a traditional puff of smoke.

Aoko threw a dark glare, and Hakuba seemed more than happy to push a certain magician's buttons. "I saw Aoko-kun here," he offered blandly, again bowing his head to her, "and I was curious to see what she was doing here. That _you_ were with her didn't hurt either, I dare say, since I was also curious to see what _you_ were doing."

"Well gee, 'Guru-_chan_," Kaito drawled out, using the first familiar name he could think of. Hakuba's face slackened in scandal, giving Kaito the confidence to pull out a good answer, "I came here with Aoko as an excuse so I could case where I was going to do my next heist. You see, I was thinking of stealing the security cameras of that shop back there so I could use it to broadcast my face all over Japan since there are still a few people who don't know the name 'Kaitou Kid', and while I was at it I figured I'd steal a prime time slot and make a breakout sitcom called 'The Adventures of the Glorious Phantom Thief and His Occasional Lapdog the Detective' where the Glorious Thief spends twenty-two minutes setting up and outsmarting the Lapdog Detective in proper Abbott and Costello fashion. Wouldn't that be great?" By then, Kaito was in full performance, he'd produced some hand puppets he'd made and was using them to mime comedy routines while he juggled one-handed.

Hakuba could only glare. Kaito, in response, only looked innocent. "What? Does it bother you, Sagu-rin, that I'm being forthright in my plans as Kaitou Kid? Or maybe that--"

Aoko threw a light fist into the magician's shoulder. "That's enough, Kaito!" she reprimanded, before throwing a second punch into Hakuba's shoulder. "And you! You're an idiot if you still think Kaito is the Kaitou Kid!" Both young men rubbing their shoulders, she stared them down with her hands on her hips. "Now, neither of you are going to ruin this Very Good Day for me, _right_?" There was the implied threat of a mop to anyone who dissented.

Kaito and Hakuba leveled flat glares at each other, daring one to provoke Aoko; but ultimately they both knew better and capitulated.

"Now," she said brightly, clapping her hands together. "Hakuba-kun, why don't you join us?"

The honey-blonde blinked, apparently surprised at the offer, before bowing his head. "I would be most honored," he said graciously. Ever the British gentleman, he offered his arm and Aoko (unbelievably in Kaito's mind) took it as the two resumed their walk down the street. Kaito trailed after them, wondering dejectedly what he could do to make the stick-in-the-mud go away.

It wasn't that he didn't like Hakuba; he was a great diversion when Nakamori or tantei-kun weren't around. Anybody that tenacious and persistent deserved a star next to their name in Kaito's Black Book (you know, next to the devil horns and black moustache doodled onto their picture and the long list of things done to make said person in the picture _squirrrrrrm_). He continually tried to break past Kaito's defenses, something only Aoko (and, when he dared to admit it, tantei-kun) could ever do and Kaito, in his perverse thinking, thought it was rather sweet that the teen detective was trying so hard. When Kaito was thinking about it that way, he tried to include the Brit in the study group or at other times.

But figure Aoko into the mix and _everything_ changed. It _irked_ Kaito to _no end_ that Aoko went out of her way to bring Hakuba out from the throws of being a social first-grader. He couldn't for the life of him figure out what he'd done to garner the girl's attention. That the high school detective looked at her with a soft face did _not_ help matters. In the slightest.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Hakuba entertaining Aoko, regaling her with stories of London, England, France and all the history and culture that lay about Europe. He talked about his apartment in London and his Aunt's quaint country house in Devonshire, the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elise. In spite of Kaito's dissent, he found himself liking the stories. The teen magician knew that there was a wide, wide world out there, and he looked forward to the time, after he'd destroyed a certain jewel, when he could travel Europe and America and China and the whole world, entertaining audiences everywhere. He already had ideas on how to convert some of his heist tricks into proper stage magic, and the thought of performing in front of the queen of England, Hakuba gnashing teeth somewhere in the audience, really tickled his fancy.

The thought put a grin on his face, and Hakuba instinctively narrowed his grey-blue eyes in suspicion.

"Now what are you thinking?" the blond asked.

"Royalty," Kaito answered honestly.

"And what jewel are you referring to in that cryptic comment?" Hakuba demanded, still suspicious.

Kaito laughed and leaned back, arms behind his head. "How about Royal Jewels?" he drawled.

"Kaito," Aoko scolded, "Stop teasing him. Hakuba-kun, stop suspecting him."

Kaito shrugged his shoulders and lowered his arms. "Anyway, I think we've just about finished this Magical Mystery Entertainment Tour," he said, putting his tour guide voice on. He took her hand gently and kissed it. "Shall this humble guide escort you home?"

Aoko blinked but nodded her head, suddenly shy. "O-okay."

Kaito turned to their blond companion. "Do you want to join us?" he asked, "It'll give you another excuse to try and shadow me."

Hakuba frowned, but played beautifully into Kaito's hands by saying, "No, I rather think not."

Kaito waited until they had parted ways for several minutes before allowing himself a triumphant, gleeful grin for fifteen seconds.

The train ride home was pleasingly quiet, both full of good feelings and the warm sense of contentment. The teen magician walked Aoko to her door, both lingering there, neither quite wanting to end such a good day.

"Yeah, uhm..."

"Well, anyway..."

"................"

Aoko finally took a deep breath and looked Kaito in the eyes, a warm smile on her face. "Thanks for the great day," she said finally. "You really did a good job with this 'show.' I'll see you tomorrow for school."

"... Yeah," Kaito said, still staring at that inviting face when the door finally closed on his face.

Suddenly, oddly empty, Kaito stepped back from Aoko's house and shuffled to his own home next door. He saw, as soon as he hit the sidewalk, that a young girl was pacing about his front door. He recognized the deep red hair, to say nothing of the flagrantly flamboyant costume. And the broom. Oh, he knew the broom.

"Kuroba-kun!!" Akako exclaimed, spinning around with flair.

"Akako-san," Kaito said in a low voice, his eyes flat. "... What are you doing at my house?"

"What took you so long to get home?" she demanded with equal trite. "I've been waiting for hours!"

"For what?"

"For you!!"

That pricked curiosity in Kaito, and he quirked up an eyebrow; his only sign for her to continue.

"Lucifer showed me a vision," she explained. "You cannot go to Budokan."

"... Huh?"

"You cannot go to Budokan!" she repeated, shaking a finger at him. Kaito wondered if she was aware how much cleavage her "ceremonial robe" showed - to say nothing of how much of her waist was exposed.

"Aren't you cold?" he asked in a flat voice.

"Do you not understand?" Akako demanded, thrusting her fists onto her hips. "Lucifer showed me; if you go to Budokan, you will be arrested!"

"Akako-san, I--what?"

"You will be arrested!"

Kaito, for all his lackluster exterior, had learned over time that Akako's predictions were worth heading, but at the same time he couldn't show that to Akako, because that would mean admitting that he was Kaitou Kid, and while they both knew that she knew, _neither_ would dare admit it. Besides, her predictions were always dire.

"Is this about Kaitou Kid getting caught? I thought you of all people would know that he wouldn't let that happen," he said in feigned boredom.

"I didn't say caught, I said arrested," Akako insisted. "If you go to Budokan, _you_ will be arrested, not Kaitou Kid."

The teen magician tilted his head to one side. "Why?" he asked simply.

Akako sniffed. "Lucifer didn't think it was necessary for me to know," she said in an embarrassed flush. "The one you fear will be there, and he will likely be the key to your arrest." She leaned forward, into Kaito's personal space. "You cannot go, for your own safety."

Kaito shrugged his shoulders. "Then I'll make sure 'I'm' not there." He'd make certain that Kuroba Kaito wasn't around for the heist; he'd have to pick a good face to impersonate. It would also behoove him to definitely go to the martial arts tournament; he could do a more detailed sweep of the building with the idea of hiding and escape (not that he never _had_ that in mind whenever he cased a location, but it never hurt to make a point of it).

The redhead narrowed her eyes, reading something that Kaito didn't know, before shrugging her cloak back around her scanty costume and stalking off the front steps and down the street. Kaito watched for a few moments before deciding he would never understand Akako, and went into the house.

* * *

"Stupid Kaito," Akako muttered under her breath. "You're still planning on going." She breathed heavily through her nose. "I will have to protect you."

**

* * *

Author's Notes**: Hnn, what to say. Kaito is fun. He plays around and does things with such flare that it's hard not to smile whenever he's doing something. ^_^ And the doofus doesn't realize what he's feeling for Aoko at all. Clueless. But that's what makes something later on so much fun. By now, you're probably starting to get some idea on who's going to get offed, but we won't say anything. People seem to like this opening, and we hope we can continue to live up to expectations. See you in two weeks!

Next time: Yellow. Lots and lots of yellow. And information seeking of a couple of sorts. ^_^


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three**

In the back room of a billiards hall, Kaito was pouring his attention over maps and lists and floor plans. He'd brought a file of printouts that he'd made the previous night on his nice and untraceable laptop of various things he found useful on the internet. (Gods, praise and good fortune to whoever invented the wondrous World Wide Web. One could really find _anything_.) Of course, technically, the pool hall had been closed for almost a week, but what did locks mean to him?

The floor plans were giving Kaito such wonderful ideas. Especially when he realized that there were functioning showers for any martial artist to clean up in after a difficult round of fighting. Just as Kaito could _do_ things with a rock concert, he could _do_ things to Nakamori with showers. Really, his creativity was just running away with him as he jotted down ideas, took notes, and dug through files to double check that _one_ item for this or that.

Lists of workers with photographs were poured over to see who would be a good face to borrow (especially since he couldn't afford to show up as Kuroba Kaito after Akako's warning...), along with their schedules and information. Architectural drawings were studied on where plumbing, electrical, and HVAC vents were, to say nothing of the absolutely _beautiful_ crawlspaces he could use up above the arena's ceiling. He just needed to decide on a plan of attack, but he was having so much fun looking at all the possibilities!

"Ah, Boutchama," came a wizened, old voice.

Kaito looked up from his messy stacks of papers and drawings. Balding and with a thick, bushy mustache stood Konosuke Jii, a loyal accomplice of Kaito's father, the first Kaitou Kid, and now his sometimes-assistant.

"Hey, Jii-chan!" Kaito smiled brightly. "How was the warm country of Mexico? A better climate than our frigid temperatures, I hope."

Jii put his coat and hat down over a chair and eased himself down. "The warmer weather _was_ a little gentler on these old bones, Boutchama." From a jacket pocket he pulled out a manila envelope. "However, I must admit, that band I saw in concert was most... intriguing."

Kaito's grin seemed to widen to an impossible degree and he let out an excited giggle as he took the offered envelope. His eyes glossed right over the detailed dossiers of the Mexican rock band and landed right on a disk.

"Oooooh! Jii-chan, did you record something?"

"The concert was most enjoyable. I thought you might wish to see it."

Kaito laughed as his excitement bubbled over. "Thanks!"

Jii smiled kindly, sitting back. His eyes roamed across the table and a bushy eyebrow rose. "Boutchama? You have quite a few escape routes listed. More than you usually do. Did something happen while I was away?"

Kaito waved it off. "Nothing to worry about," he replied, digging through the dossiers. He'd never really told the old man about Akako and her mysterious abilities. Explaining it now would sound crazy. But if the Budokan was going to be dangerous for him as himself, he was going to have back-up plans and back-ups for his back-up plans. That level of planning usually let Lady Luck smile on him.

"So, Boutchama, shall I inspect the Budokan?"

"Nope!" Kaito replied brightly, looking up with a large smile. "There's a martial arts tournament thing going on this Sunday, and I'll be going with Aoko to support our school. I'll check out the place then."

"Very well, Boutchama. As always, please be careful."

"Always am, Jii-chan!"

* * *

Hakuba slipped quietly into gym, hoping for a few moments of peace and tranquility. Ever since Kuroba had heard that he would be unable to represent their school at the martial arts tournament being held at the Budokan on Sunday, the magician had been poking, prodding and relentlessly _teasing_ him. Yesterday, for example, chickens seemed to keep appearing around him, following him, and pecking him. The day before that, a dog's tail kept appearing on his person, specifically hanging between his legs. This, however, was nothing compared to the fact that _all bloody day_ his clothes kept turning _yellow_.

It was quite understandable that Hakuba wanted a break. A place where his school clothes would _stay_ black and white and the only yellow part of him would be his hair.

It was after school and, as usual, various clubs were having their practices. With the freezing cold temperatures outside, many of the sports clubs were choosing to confiscate various corners of the school to hone their skills. In the gymnasium, the karate team, basketball team, and a few members of the track were all trying to share the space. Karate had one half, basketball the other, and the track members had claimed one side for sprint practice. It was all nice and chaotic and a (hopefully) perfect place for him to take a few moments before Kuroba once again found him and turned something yellow.

(Really, was it so bad that he wouldn't be going Sunday? Following the obligations of his father did _not_ make him a coward. One would think Hakuba had proven his courage with all the cases he'd solved, even outside of continuously hunting down Kaitou Kid and trying to reveal him to be Kuroba....)

With a small sigh, Hakuba wandered over to the bleachers and sat down, glad to be _away_ from Kuroba's manic grin. Peace and quiet at last. Maybe a chance to read a _good_ mystery. Hopefully Kuroba would start using his excess energy on someone else and leave him alone for a while.

"Hey, Hakuba!" came _that_ voice _right behind him_.

Hakuba wasn't entirely proud of his high-pitched yelp of surprise as he rolled forward in a well practiced judo move and turned to see that _infuriating_ grin right about where his ear was just moments before.

"_Kuroba-kun_," he growled, more angry at his _highly_ undignified exclamation of startlement than the fact that Kuroba had, unsurprisingly, appeared out of nowhere behind him. Out of well-trained instinct, Hakuba looked down and bit back a sigh of relief that his clothes hadn't magically come down with a case of jaundice, like Kuroba had been claiming all day.

.... Wait a minute.

"My _socks_, Kuroba-kun?" For sure enough, they were a nice, blinding, neon, sunshine, eye-damaging yellow.

The answering grin was completely unrepentant.

Hakuba sighed, standing up. Reacting was exactly what the possible-thief wanted, so Hakuba _tried_ to school his features. But no doubt, his embarrassing yelp and tumbling was more than enough to satisfy the insane magician.

The British detective shook his head, his eyes automatically sweeping the area. Offhand, he noted that Koizumi was also up in the bleachers, watching Kuroba with interest, though that was no surprise, along with the placements of a half dozen other students that he recognized.

Straightening his clothes once more and ensuring a half-inch of his white shirt extended from his black jacket, Hakuba scowled. "Shouldn't you be doing something else?" he calmly stated.

"Like what?" Kuroba said, unrepentant smile growing. "I've got nothing better to do."

Hakuba highly doubted that, and he fought to keep a smile from tugging at his lips. If the irritating magician wasn't so _damnably_ likeable and charismatic.... _Professional, stay professional. Don't react and don't give in. You are a detective; he is a thief. Friendships can't exist._

"You!?" came an angry voice from the karate half of the gym.

"Onii-san!"

Hakuba turned, raising an eyebrow as he saw Junko rather ineffectively trying to hold her brother back as he stormed over to Hakuba and Kaito at the bleachers.

"What are _you_ doing here? Haven't you done enough to my family? Now you're _stalking_ us?"

"Onii-san!" Junko tugged at his arm.

"Stay out of this," Minagami growled. "You, at least, can rid the shame if you'd just _stop_. _He_ should keep his nose out of other people's business and leave us _alone_."

Hakuba _really_ wondered what Kuroba had done to so upset the upperclassman.

"Sorry, Kakeru-senpai," Kuroba said with a gleeful smile. "But believe it or not, I'm not here for you. You and your family aren't exactly the center of the universe."

Giving a sidelong glance at the possible-thief, Hakuba fought the blush as he lifted his pant leg an inch. "I concur that Kuroba-kun isn't here for you. I have been his target of choice all week."

Minagami glanced and squinted at Hakuba's socks, but turned his hateful eyes to Kuroba once more.

"My sister says you can evade a mop."

Junko turned bright red.

"Let's test your skill and see if you're any good at avoiding anything else."

Hakuba calmly stepped back with a highly smug smile. Kuroba could dodge mops, policemen, helicopters, and anything else thrown at him. This wouldn't be a "test" at all. After all, Hakuba didn't mind at all if Minagami finally got taken down a peg. The upperclassman could be unbearably cruel and mean sometimes.

Kuroba shrugged congenially, clearly thinking along the same lines as Hakuba (and what a rare and scary thought _that_ was....). A simple cartwheel and handstand had Kuroba start dodging Minagami's aggressive offensive. Junko trailed after her brother, begging him to stop this madness.

Various classmates turned their heads as Kuroba's flamboyant evading tactics started, but then went back to what they were doing. Such was how common Kuroba's antics were. Really, nobody in school was ever surprised that the magician did something. _What_ he did may be surprising, but the fact that he did something? Never a shock.

The evasions worked their way well across the gym, through a basketball game, around the school's sprinting star, and almost two revolutions around the gym's perimeter. Hakuba was impressed. Minagami, however, was getting frustrated.

Then, something went wrong. Kuujurou, who was sparring with Naotoki, kicked too hard. Naotoki stumbled backward and landed hard on his arm. Kuroba, who was flipping back into a handstand had to do a last minute adjustment to avoid putting all his weight onto Naotoki's face and ribs. He landed poorly on his wrists and the magician had to tumble away from Naotoki's form, twisting things as he went.

Minagami, however, was too focused on Kuroba. He was going to get him no matter what, and he didn't even notice that a fellow student would be under his feet.

Kuroba, with all his tumbling and twisting, didn't see this coming, but Hakuba did.

"Onii-san!"

Not that the British detective would ever let anyone get hurt when he could prevent it. He rushed in and grabbed the flying fist of Minigami. A subtle shift of weight and Hakuba was standing over Naotoki and performing a perfectly formed judo throw of the karate champion over his shoulder and onto the clear floor beyond the fallen student.

"Onii-san!" Junko raced to her brother's side as Hakuba helped up Naotoki, who was flushed with embarrassment.

Hakuba scowled at Minagami as the karate champion righted himself and stood with a hateful glare.

"You..."

"Onii-san, please!" Junko whispered beside him.

He wheeled to her, but Koizumi was there, hair flying and skirt falling back down from what must have been a fast sprint. (Hakuba could _not_ figure how she moved from the bleachers so fast and so quietly and that irked him...) Junko was positively scarlet in embarrassment as Koizumi faced Minagami down.

"You would strike your sister for liking the same thing as you?"

Minagami turned purple with rage. "No _girl_ should like--"

Koizumi slapped him. "You do not have a say in what she does and does not like. These are her choices. It's how she is. You can't change her any more than she can change it about herself."

"She _shouldn't_ be... " Minagami growled.

"So you take it out on her and Kuroba-kun," Hakuba interrupted calmly, stepping beside Koizumi.

"Why Hakuba!" Kuroba draped himself across Hakuba's shoulder. "What a good guard dog you are! Much better than a Lapdog Detective!"

"Kuroba-kun," Hakuba looked at the magician's wrists, trying to see if there was any damage from the twisting. "Please stay on topic."

"Kaito!" an angry voice called over the gym. "What did you do now?!"

"Aokoooooo!" Kuroba let out a long whine. "Everyone's so mean to me!"

Junko almost collapsed as Aoko bulldozed her way over.

"Kaito-kun, Aoko-kun! I've been looking for you!" Katanaka came in through a different door, her smile disappearing as she saw the crowds around Kuroba and Hakuba.

Behind her, the basketball coach returned from the phone call to a parent he'd made if Hakuba's deductions were correct. The coach immediately started getting his team back to work and the karate team and track members dispersed, fearing the arrival of other teachers.

Aoko was still brandishing her mop at Kuroba who, Hakuba noted, kept his hands buried in his pockets.

"What can I do for you, sensei?" Kaito smiled.

Another glance at the crowds and Katanaka gestured. "Let's go somewhere a bit more private. Kakeru-kun? Junko-kun? I'd like to speak to the two of you as well."

Minagami grumbled something under his breath and Junko seemed to be trying to hide from everything, no doubt from the shame and embarrassment that she must have been feeling because of the whole incident. Together, five students and one teacher left the gym and met under the covered arch that led from the school to the gym.

Katanaka showed a bright, if somewhat forced, smile on her face. Something wrung as wrong for Hakuba, so he paid close attention. The young teacher traced a finger along her ear, something the Holmes enthusiast had noted she did whenever she was irritated with a student. "Kaito-kun, Aoko-kun," she said with a gentle tone. "Something I didn't mention before and I wanted to be sure to before Sunday. I know you're both thinking of coming to support our two karate stars here at the Budokan. I just wanted to tell you that while your uniforms aren't required, I'd recommend the two of you dress nicely."

She leaned in to Kuroba. "That means you'll have to wear a button down shirt. Not those T-shirts or sweatshirts I think you love to wear during your free time."

The teacher turned her smile to Aoko. "And no jeans for you. We're showing support, so at least put a little thought into what you're wearing."

Aoko scowled, but managed a pleasant, "Of course, sensei."

"Thank you. You three can go. I need to talk to our illustrious karate representatives. Unless," Katanaka turned her winsome smile to Hakuba, "we have a judo representative as well?"

"Unfortunately, I will not be attending. I have already informed you of this."

"Drat. I had to try."

Hakuba nodded. He, Aoko and Kuroba had been clearly dismissed, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he shouldn't leave yet.

"Go on, you three. We're all set."

They went back into the main school building, but Kuroba, with a mischievous grin, didn't let the door swing all the way shut. Instead he left it open a crack, crouched down, and put his ear to the opening.

"Kaito!" Aoko growled, reaching down to pull him away.

Hakuba held up his own hand. "A moment, Aoko-kun." And with a faint flush at his own eavesdropping, he leaned in.

Kuroba grinned manically. "I didn't know you had it in you, 'Guru-chu!"

Hakuba thought it wise not to respond.

"Kakeru-kun, your attitude needs improvement. I understand that you feel insulted by Kaito-kun's callous, though unintended, jibe at you and your sister. But he has apologized. If you can't accept it, then ignore him. You're making _yourself_ look foolish.

"Junko-kun, you need to stand up for yourself. Don't let your brother belittle you. There's nothing wrong with you. He may be older, but you deserve just as much respect as he does. You've done nothing wrong and handled yourself magnificently in such a difficult onslaught. Hold your head up high."

"She doesn't need advice from _you_, Katanaka-sensei."

_Well_, Hakuba thought, _at least he is still respectful to his teachers if no one else._

"I think she does, because the advice you're giving is the wrong kind."

"She's _my_ family, not yours. You're only exasperating the situation _because_ of my sister and her..."

"Onii-san!!"

A moment of silence.

"Katanaka-sensei, I thank you for your care for me and my brother. But the two of us need to train for Sunday. Please excuse us."

"Junko-kun..." Katanaka said quietly.

"Come _on_," Minagami said.

"Ah!"

"Kakeru-kun," the teacher's voice dropped in both tone and temperature. "You mustn't treat her so roughly. Let go of her arm."

"She's not your responsibility."

"And she won't be _yours_ either, if you continue the way you have been."

"Why sensei, is that a threat?"

"No. Merely a statement of fact."

Aoko interrupted any more eavesdropping as she grabbed both Kuroba and Hakuba by the elbow. "This isn't any of our business," she said, though she hardly sounded convincing.

Hakuba nodded, letting himself be pulled along, feeling somehow... dirty.

* * *

A dark shadow looked at the rising moonlight that made the fallen snow glow. It couldn't be born any more. Death was the only option. Nothing else could be done. And after the disgrace of that afternoon's event (another in a long humiliating line of instances) in front of _that person_ of all people. It could be taken no more. That Sunday, that person would _die_.

* * *

Aoko looked out the window at the freshly fallen snow that was shining in the moonlight. The hot cocoa in her hands did wonders to warm her as she glanced worriedly to the house next door. Kaito hadn't shown it, but whatever had happened in the gym had somehow hurt him and she was certain of it. But he hadn't said a word.

However, if there was _one_ person in the world that Aoko knew well, it was one Kuroba Kaito. She'd seen his winces when he packed his bag and slung it over his shoulder with his usual casual grace. She'd seen him switch hands frequently on their walk back home until he finally shoved the bag under an arm (especially given he usually juggled it, her bag, and other random items....)

Something was wrong. And Aoko wanted to know what. There had been a lot of instances lately where Kaito had sported some injury or other. The magician usually brushed it off as a poor attempt at a new trick that went wrong, but she couldn't help worrying. Kaito had a bad habit of keeping things inside. His mother's gentle chiding of him over practicing a dangerous brand of magic showed how much he tended to hold things close to him and not show them. A magician shows the audience what the audience wants to see, not what they really feel.

She doubted that Kaito was even aware that he did that in his everyday life as well. And now he was hiding injuries. He needed a wake-up call, and she had the mop to do it.

Decision made, she grabbed her coat, scarf, and another cup of cocoa and headed out, ready to break down his door, pour cocoa down his throat, and _sit_ on him until he 'fessed up on what had happened in the gym and let her take a look at whatever was ailing him.

"Ah, Aoko!"

"Dad?"

She was encased in the smell of pipe smoke as her father wrapped his arms around her (and did she have to juggle to make sure the cocoa didn't spill!) wondering where the hell he had come from.

"I was able to slip out from work early. Why don't I take you out to dinner? To make up for missing our Sunday the week before last?"

_... He remembered..._ Aoko was suddenly full of another warm feeling. She knew that her father cared. There was never any doubt about that. But he was so damn focused sometimes. Especially with Kaitou Kid's reemergence. She _knew_ she was a blip on his radar, but a very _small_ blip compared to whatever criminal was doing naughty things in her father's territory. Saving lives always came before her and she understood that. Encouraged it, even.

But he had remembered. He'd remembered his promise to make it up to her about not being able to have that Sunday together.

She squeezed him tightly, willing her love for her father to engulf him as much as she was. This was _appreciated_ from the very bottom of her heart and she wanted him to _know_ that.

"Dinner sounds wonderful, Dad..." The cocoa she was holding spilled, soaking through the glove she had been wearing, and an idea struck her. "Say, Dad? Why don't we take Kaito and his mother out as well?"

Her father smiled, pulling out his pipe. "Whatever you want, honey." He threw his briefcase onto the sofa and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Let's go invite them."

Aoko smiled, putting her cup of cocoa down and pulling off her wet glove to shove into her pocket. Somehow, the cold winter air and fresh snowfall didn't seem so cold as they walked next door and rang the bell.

"Yeah, yeah!" a voice called. "What can I do for..." Kaito opened the door and his jaw dropped. Something flickered across his face faster than Aoko could catch before a big grin split his face. "Why, Keibu! You're home at a decent hour. Aoko must be thrilled!"

Her father laughed around his pipe. "Very. Now come on. We're taking you and your mother out to dinner. The four of us haven't gone out in a while."

"I can get my coat in a few seconds," Kaito smiled, "but I'm afraid my mom won't be coming. She's got a late shift tonight."

"That's too bad," Aoko's dad sighed. "Well come on, Kaito-kun. I'm buying."

"Sure thing! I'll make sure to buy triple portions!"

"Kaito!" Growling, Aoko shook off her shoes, grabbed a nearby umbrella, and chased after her best friend, her father's laugh echoing in the genkan behind her. However, she noticed during the chase that Kaito didn't use his hands in his evasions. She was certain of it now. He'd been hurt in the gym, somehow.

Aoko abruptly stopped at the top of the stairs. Kaito poked his head out from the kitchen at the bottom, clearly wondering where her cries of damnation had gone, as well as her thundering footsteps.

"Aoko?"

"Kaito? Are you okay?"

"Kaito-kun? Something wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing!" he held up his hands. "I'm fine!"

Aoko stomped down the stairs and grabbed a wrist.

"_Ouch_! Aoko, you're grip is so manly!"

She ignored his insult (with great effort; her fingers were _itching_ to pick up the umbrella again....) and lightly probed his wrist, feeling the bones. Not that she had a clue what she'd feel if he really _had_ done some damage, but his grimace, wince, and attempt to tug his appendage out of her grip said a lot. She let go of his wrist and grabbed his other one. Same reaction.

"Kaito-kun? You alright?"

"I'm _fine_," Kaito offered a pout at Aoko. "I twisted my wrists earlier. I'll be fine in a week or so."

"_How_, Kaito? _How_ did you twist your wrists?"

He pulled away, grabbing his coat and shrugging into it. "Avoiding an unexpected obstacle."

"Kaito..." Aoko would have gone on, but her father put a hand on her shoulder.

"Now Aoko," he said with a smile, holding his pipe in one hand. "Haven't I taught you anything about how to question someone? Especially someone like Kaito-kun here who is immune to sheer intimidation?"

He winked at her.

Aoko scowled until a slow grin spread across her face. "Yes, Dad, I remember." Reaching out swiftly, she wrapped her arms around one of Kaito's arms and smiled up at him. "Come on Kaito, dinner's awaiting us. Were to, Dad?"

Kaito looked distinctly nervous.

Aoko looked at her dad and they both shared a wink and a grin.

"Let's get going to dinner," her father chortled.

* * *

By the time dessert was served, Aoko was feeling very pleased with herself, her father was a calm support beside her and Kaito. Kaito was squirming beautifully in his seat. Oh, she knew a lot of the squirm was theatrical, but the point was that he _was_ squirming.

All throughout dinner, Kaito had steadfastly refused to discuss why he had mysteriously injured his wrists. He even pretended they were fine by doing simple magic tricks (like he _always_ did) during their meal to keep them entertained. And while the dinner theater was enjoyable, both Aoko and her father were like lions on a hunt with Kaito's elusive information as their prey.

In a way, it was another entertainment during their meal. Both she and her father would circle around the topic they wanted to know about, avoiding it and lulling Kaito into feeling safe. Then, one of them (usually Aoko) would ask a question that was just barely related to what she wanted to know, Kaito would answer then immediately cover his mouth realizing what he let slip. Aoko would then start circling again, noting that the information she was seeking was bleeding, leaving a nice little trail to follow.

Thus far it had been determined that the "unexpected obstacle" that Kaito had apparently needed to avoid was a person from the karate club. Someone who wasn't Minagami Kakeru or Minagami Junko. Minagami Kakeru was involved somehow, but Kaito was good at sniffing out when she was headed for that little piece of information and evading.

Aoko had to admit, she was surprised and proud of how good her father was at questioning. Normally he was so busy screaming for Kaitou Kid's monocle that she forgot that he had made it all the way to Inspector for a damn good reason. His belligerent manner on the crime scene was a direct contrast to his almost gleeful approach at questioning suspects. (Or at least Kaito. It wasn't like Aoko had ever seen him question a _real_ criminal, but if it went like this she was positive he as magnificent at it....)

She took a large bite of her strawberry shortcake and smiled at her best friend. Kaito shrank in his seat. Oh, this was _fun_.

"Might as well give it up, Kaito-kun," her father laughed. "She seems to have learned very well. She'll get it out of you by the end of dessert."

The magician scowled and pouted, straightening in his seat and slurping a spoonful of ice cream off his warmed pie. "I don't see why it's such a big deal," he mumbled.

"Kaito," Aoko looked down to the table. Fun as the questioning was, it didn't distract her from the _real_ reason she was going through all this. "You're hurt. Isn't that enough reason for it to be a 'big deal'?"

She glanced up from the table and saw that he was looking at her strangely. Something fluttered and she went back to staring at the table.

More silence.

"Fine, I give up, Kaito, I..."

A just-opening rose appeared in front of her.

"Aoko..." the magician sighed. "Look, I was in the middle of a backflip when the sparring between Naotoki-kun and Kuujuro-kun was misjudged. Naotoki-kun fell in my way and I was already in midair. I had to do a lot of twisting to readjust where I'd land so that I didn't crush his face. It really wasn't that big of a deal. Just _really_ unexpected."

"And why couldn't you just _say_ that?" she demanded.

"Aoko," her father interrupted. "A man will always have his pride. I'm guessing that the fact that he injured himself while doing what he probably saw as a simple maneuver was rather embarrassing to him."

Well that was something Aoko didn't understand at all. "Stupid male pride!" she growled, standing up and stalking away.

"Aoko!' two voices called after her. She could hear her father fumbling with a wallet and Kaito hurrying to catch up with her. Well, she didn't want that. She pulled her coat tighter and walked out into the cold night air and powered her way down the street.

_Why_ did men feel this need to hide when they were hurt or embarrassed? Didn't they realize that all it did was make others worry all the more about them? What was the point of pride if it isolated yourself?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid.... _men_!" Her dark blue eyes flashed as she continued to pound down the street.

A puff of smoke, and Aoko suddenly didn't have her nice warm coat any more.

"_Kaito_!" Mop! Must have mop! WHERE?!

"Maybe now you can hear me," came Kaito's light, easy-going voice.

Shivering, Aoko wrapped her arms tightly around herself, trying to keep what little warmth she had centralized. The magician appeared in front of her, her coat wrapped neatly in his arms.

"I'm back to taking you for granted, aren't I?" A small shrug. "I keep thinking that you shouldn't have to know things. That they're too minor for your attention, or that you're better off not knowing because it causes even _me_ to get a headache."

Aoko shivered, not caring what he was saying as long as he _gave her back her coat_.

A quiet, "You deserve so much better than that."

"Kaito, my _coat_, if you don't _mind_?" she grunted.

He looked at her and smiled. "Oh yeah, you kinda need that, don't you?"

"Argh! #(*$^!!" She lunged at him, desperately grasping for her coat. He weaved around her with ease before he was suddenly behind her, draping her coat over her shoulders. She paused long enough to properly nestle herself in the warmth before turning to her best friend.

Smiling sweetly, she thrust her hand forward, grabbed a fistful of his coat, and dragged him nose-to-nose. "If you _ever_ take my coat again in the middle of a _freezing_ cold night, you won't ever be able to walk straight again. _Do you understand_?"

Kaito grinned.

And things were back to normal for Aoko.

**

* * *

Author's Note**: Well, lots of nice character interaction here. Also plenty of set up for nasty things that will occur later on. Kaito being very Kaito. Hakuba being Hakuba (*snicker, neon socks*), and all around fun. Ehehehe. ^_^

Next Time: An encounter with a tiny detective.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part Four**

Pros.

Ever since a certain organization gave a certain poison made by a certain scientist to a certain Kudo Shinichi who was by all accounts _certain_ to die from said certain poison, well, a certain Edogawa Conan tried to find the pros in his new... situation.

Over time (much, much, _much_ time) Conan had come to realize that there were certain advantages to having a child's body. The biggest pro was simply the fact that adults didn't notice him. As long as he was quiet and unassuming, he could wander about almost wherever he wanted and solve mysteries. He had also come to learn that his level of height was quite advantageous. Whenever hiding things, adults instinctively put things out of the line of sight - stores put the most expensive items right _at_ the line of sight of adults, because that's where people tended to look. When solving a mystery, Conan's height often put him at an eye level where he could see things that others couldn't. He'd also - once he finally got the hang of it - found manipulating adults almost easy. Leading questions, wide eyes, polite tones and a bright smile had gotten him through many a murder, simply because the appearance of a child not only made him invisible but consistently underestimated. Something a certain organization would certainly regret some day.

But, as _yet another_ teenager or parent or adult pushed and bumped and otherwise bowled him over, he decided that the pros of being shrunken were decidedly _not worth it_.

He and Ran were in line at a concession stand, said line expanding easily twenty meters - them at the very back of course, waiting to be served.

"Ran, I don't supposed you could use your karate skills to make things go faster, could you?" he asked, swiveling his head up and leveling a flat glare at the love of his life - a glare that flattened even further when she saw her far too amused smile plastered on her face.

"Conan-kun," she said brightly, bending over, "do you want to ride on my shoulder?"

Conan snorted. "You're no help at all," he retorted, turning away to hide his blush at the idea of being on her shoulders. How embarrassing!!

A further comment was interrupted when Ran's cell phone rang and she bustled through her things to pull it out and answer. "Hello?" she asked, before smiling and saying, "Kazuha-chan!" She looked to Conan and the faux child perked with interest. It had been two weeks or so since the last call. After several minutes of "Uh-huh, yeah, mm, oh really, awww!" and other such noncommittal sounds, Ran finally said, "Hey, could you put Hattori-kun on the phone since he's there? Conan-kun's tugging on my pant-leg, he wants to talk to his 'nii-chan'." Grinning, she bent down and offered the phone.

"I am _not_ tugging your pant-leg," he growled. Ran blithely ignoring the venom in the tone. "Ah, Hattori-nii-chan," he said, looking around and spying the girl in front of the two of them, her dark blue eyes curious.

"Aw, c'mon," his best friend said. "Yer on th' phone. Ya don't need t' sound like a kid."

"There are a lot of people here, Hattori-nii-chan," Conan explained, eyeing the girl and unconsciously turning away from her. Shrinking did not help him being the center of attention, apparently - sometimes being cute had its costs. "How are you?" he asked in a lower, quieter voice.

"Ya ask that every time ya call," Hattori responded. "'m up an' about, okay? My sensei's already got me trainin'; he says I'll be back 'n top shape by spring."

A trickle of relief dared to be released in Conan's psyche, and he felt himself smile. He could still remember Hattori being released from the hospital in a wheelchair - the image entirely too disturbing for a boy with so much impulsive energy. Conan also remembered bits of that frightful evening when he was being drained of his blood and the stained picture of Hattori covered in blood - _his_ blood, having been shot trying to stop the Black Organization psychologist. "Good," he said simply. He didn't see Ran's knowing smile.

"Saw 'nother case o' yours in the paper," Hattori said, shrugging off Conan's comment. "Ya ever take a day off? Hey, maybe ya can sneak off with Nee-chan when ya do to get a little--"

"I'm hanging up," Conan said flatly before pulling the phone away from his ear. He could hear a rushed "Oi wait a--" before he hit the cancel key and tossed the phone back to Ran.

"Teasing you again?" the karate champion asked.

The teen turned grade-schooler only glared at her. "The two of you are terrible together."

"Aw," the girl in front of them said. "Don't worry too much, boy-kun. Big sisters are supposed to tease little brothers."

That only made Conan feel more sour. This, in turn, made the teenage girl grin wider. "What's your name, boy-kun?" she asked, bending down.

"This is Edogawa Conan-kun," Ran offered, putting a hand on Conan's shoulder.

"What a funny name," the girl said, glancing up at Ran before turning her attention back to the miniature detective. "My name is Nakamori Aoko."

Both Conan and Ran blinked, the boy blurting out, "As in Inspector Nakamori?"

The girl blinked, running a hand through her dark and wild tresses. "Oh, you've heard of my father?"

"Yes, I'm Mori Ran, my father is Mori Kogoro."

"Oh!" Aoko said, pointing to Ran in recognition, "The Sleeping Detective guy who's always 'butting his goddamn snoring nose' into Dad's business whenever there's a heist! Er," she added quickly when she realized what she said, "at least that's what Dad's always saying..." She offered a weak giggle.

Ran smiled genially and Conan, in an un-admitted bout of spite, replied with, "Ojii-chan says Inspector Nakamori is a single minded coot who's head is in his feet 'cause he's chasing Kaitou Kid all the time."

The teen Aoko turned bright red in indignation and moved to swat Conan squarely on his shrunken skull. This was interceded by Ran with a martial move, pinning the girl's wrist. "Easy now," she said quickly, stepping in front of Conan. "He's only quoting my father, something you just did a few minutes ago."

Aoko flushed again, this time out of embarrassment. "Oh, that's true. I'm sorry," she said quickly.

"Are you here for the tournament?" Ran asked, changing topics. The seemingly seven-year-old was forgotten by all appearances, except when the karate practitioner gave Conan's shoulder a gentle squeeze before sifting his hand into hers.

The teen detective couldn't hide a flushed smile. In some ways, the last few months had been heavenly. Conan, convinced that she wouldn't remember and in a selfish moment during the hidden epidemic case, had confessed to a drugged Ran the entire truth of his reduced state. Ran _had_ remembered, however, and since then things had, suffice it to say, changed.

At first, neither was completely sure how to react to the other; they kept catching each other's glances, or holding a look just a bit too long, and the two would look hurriedly away, blushing as they remembered that they _knew_. Kogoro had finally picked up on it, sort of, and demanded of Conan what he had peeped on to make them so embarrassed; the hack detective was convinced that a seven-year-old boy was having improper fantasies about his perfect daughter. It was then that Conan snuck into Ran's room at three in the morning for them to have a proper discussion on how things Moved On from There.

Outside of Ran "allowing" Conan to call her by name instead of "Ran-nee-chan," the high schooler also gave the faux grade-schooler much more freedom about the house and also on cases. Conan almost couldn't believe how much simpler it was to solve a case when he didn't have to worry about ducking out of Ran's notice, instead letting her know what he was planning to do and then scooting off to do it. Similarly, manipulating Kogoro became a task with much more dexterity. Now, Conan would pull Ran aside and explain how it all unfolded, and she would help dish out leading questions, offering phrases like, "Dad, didn't you once say..." or "Wow, Dad, I remember when..." Between the two of them, Kogoro was actually (almost) starting to solve the cases on his own - at least until he jumped to the absolute _wrong_ conclusion, forcing Conan to look apologetically at his beloved Ran before darting her father and pulling up his bowtie. But even in this, Ran had become very adept in helping things along.

This was not to say that there wasn't an adjustment period. The first case they came across after Conan was checked out of the hospital, not three days after everything had come to their conclusion, had them stumbling on another murder. Ran had to truly struggle to keep herself composed while Conan put Kogoro asleep and solved the case. The two had a very intense argument that night, long after the older detective had drunk himself to sleep, in hushed whispers over why Conan did what he did; the shrunken detective explaining - not for the first and likely not for the last time - that he needed Kogoro to become famous enough for him (and subsequently Conan) to be asked to investigate the Black Organization and to Take _Them_ Down.

There was also the adjustment on Conan's part. He didn't realize what a habit it was to lie through his teeth until he was given the luxury of telling the truth. He spent many days feeling the hypocrite as he easily double talked the family to do what he needed, only to have Ran pull him aside and ask what was really going on before she let him go. It shamed him when he realized how natural he'd become at lying, but when he'd confessed this particular guilt to Ran, she had simply smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, saying it was an adjustment for all of them.

God, he loved her!

The thought made him blush against his will, and he coughed before shaking the thoughts away and refocusing on his precious Ran and her new friend, Nakamori Aoko.

"So you're here in support of some classmates?" Ran was saying.

"Yes, me and Kaito are. Though where _he_ is," she added with a growl and a roll of the eyes, "is beyond me. He can be so late sometimes." Impatiently, she looked at her watch. "Twenty minutes late and counting. I _told_ him I'd be at the concession stand."

Ran gave a friendly smile. "Shinichi can be late sometimes, too," she said with a wistful smile. "I remember one time he kept me waiting for over two hours." Her smile softened at the memory, as did Shinichi's as he remembered that night as well. "But it was worth the wait, just to see his face."

"Ah," Conan agreed, quietly, under his breath.

Aoko smiled as well, understanding love when she saw it. "Will he be here for you? Cheer you on?"

"No," Ran said with a great sigh, swinging her arms slightly. "But in the interim I thought I'd bring Conan-kun. He and I haven't had a date in a long time, right?"

Conan turned bright red. "D-date?! What--? _Raaan_!!" He didn't whine; nope, he absolutely _did not_ whine in his embarrassed sputtering.

Aoko frowned. "Conan-kun, you shouldn't be so familiar with your Nee-san, that's very rude!"

"Oh, no," Ran interceded. "He's not my brother; we're not even related. He's from America, and we decided he'd be more comfortable if he didn't have a suffix attached to my name. Besides," she added, shrugging, "it helps him be my substitute boyfriend."

Conan sputtered. "You're doing this on purpose!!"

Aoko crouched down again to Conan's eye level. "Of course she is," she said glibly. "You seem really easy to tease! Hey, if I ever decide I need a boyfriend, can you fill in for him if he ever stands me up?"

"Oh, yes," Ran said brightly, "He's very good at that. I can't tell you the number of times I've used him when Shinichi was unavailable."

Aoko giggled. "I bet he'd make a better date than your Shinichi."

Ran offered Conan a knowing smile, answering, "Oh, they're about the same."

The other girl laughed good-naturedly. The line continued to shuffle along, and it was perhaps ten minutes later that Conan felt Ran's hand squeeze his _hard_, almost crushing it. Startled, he looked up to her to find her staring out across the way. Spinning around, Conan followed her line of sight and realized why she was squeezing so hard.

Kudo Shinichi had entered Budokan.

Conan couldn't stop a squawk of surprise, pointing to his doppelganger as incoherent phrases sputtered out of his mouth. Kudo Shinichi, in dark wash jeans and a blazer, looked around the sea of people before spotting - Conan blinked, did they just make eye contact? - what he wanted and walking over. Raising a hand and waving, the double called out, "Hey, Aoko! Is that you?"

As one, the shocked Conan and Ran turned to the girl they had just met, who was smiling and waving back. "Kaito! What took you so long?"

"Kaito? _That's_ Kaito??" Ran demanded, turning back to stare at Conan's double.

"Yeah, why?" she asked.

"No, it's nothing," Conan said quickly, his brain finally kick-starting and deciding what to do. "He looks and awful lot like Shinichi-nii-chan, that's all."

"Really?" Aoko asked, lowering her hand. "Is he an arrogant magician too?"

"Hey, Aoko, come on! I'm not arrogant. I can't help being as good as I am!"

"See? Arrogant!"

Conan watched with deep eyes as his double, Kaito, joined them in line. There were definite differences now that they were closer; the hair was much messier, and just a barest half a shade lighter. Kaito's body was a little more lean - an acrobat's body, and there was a looseness to his face that Kudo Shinichi did not have. Ran seemed to notice this too, and she breathed a sigh or relief. Conan continued to watch, as Kaito's sapphire blue eyes (the same color as _his_ damn it) widened slightly at the sight of Aoko and her dress. The pause was just a hair too long, just a hair to heavy, before Kaito rolled his eyes and said, "Arrogant? This coming from a girl that prances around hitting people with mops?"

"Kaito!!" the girl said in a scandalized voice, making her distracted enough to miss the reddening of the so-called magician's ears. Conan blinked as he realized what was happening.

"Ne, ne," he said brightly, "Are you Aoko-nee-chan's boyfriend?"

The reaction was beautiful, in some respect. Even Ran had picked up on Kaito's reaction and couldn't help a giggle as Aoko turned bright red at the thought and immediately started to deny it. What caught Conan's eyes, however, was the blink that Kaito had made when he looked down to see Conan - a curiously blank expression crossed his face for a fraction of a second before an indignant snort fell out of his nose, followed with a, "Who'd want to be the boyfriend of a violent girl like her?" Which, of course, elicited a vicious swat from Aoko that Conan's double neatly bent under, arcing his back almost in half in an impressive display of flexibility.

"Anyway," Kaito said after about a half a dozen swats - all successfully dodged - "Who're your two friends here, Aoko?" He gave an evil grin to Conan. "Or maybe I should say friend-and-a-half?"

"Why do you always have to be like that," Aoko demanded, huffing and crossing her arms. Conan noted that Kaito's eyes lingered on the gesture. "Anyway, this is Mori Ran-chan and Edogawa Conan-kun. Ran-chan is going to compete in the tournament."

"Ah, I see," Kaito drawled. He offered a bright grin. "Feel free to kick Minagami's ass!" he said brightly.

"_Kaito_!!"

Ran, bless her, took the pair's antics all in stride. "So Minagami-san is the person you are supporting?"

"Yes," Aoko said quickly, trying to stomp on Kaito's foot and failing. "Minagami-senpai and Minagami-chan are both competing."

"Oh, two of them, how wonderful," Ran said genially.

"Wonderful nothing," Kaito said with a bright face. "The girl's nice enough, but the guy is an ass." He dodged another swat before asking, "So, Ran-chan," (and Conan _irked_ at the familiarity) "why aren't you, I don't know, in one of those karate uniforms or something? And why are you in a concession stand? Boyfriend stand you up or something?"

Conan glared very flatly. This teen was pushing a lot of buttons, and curse it all that he couldn't show it.

Ran still took it all in stride, however, and gave a soft smile. "I wanted to get something to eat before I went down and changed," she said simply. "Conan-kun was hungry, too; we had a late start getting here and had to skip supper."

"Oh, how terrible," Aoko said sincerely. "Here, we'll switch places, so you can eat first."

The girls, Conan decided as he shuffled forward to switch with Aoko, were getting along just fine. The teenager Kaito seemed to agree and, apparently already bored, squatted down to the detective's eye level.

"Alright, kid," he said genially, supporting his head in his hand. "Name, rank, and serial number."

"You already know," Conan said, "Aoko-nee-chan introduced us."

"So? I want to hear _you_ tell me your name."

Weird guy. "Edogawa Conan. Detective," he said simply.

"Detective, huh?" Kaito said with a large grin on his face. "I guess I'll just have to call you tantei-kun, won't I?"

... Of all the irksome...! "Only one person calls me 'tantei-kun,'" Conan said flatly, glaring at this double. "And you're not him."

Kaito seemed to take pause at this, blinking as Conan's retort sunk into his brain. Then, Kaito _smiled_: a light, happy, bright _smile_ that took Conan aback.

"Whatever you say, tantei-kun!" he said brightly.

... _The jerk!!_ He was doing this _deliberately_! Conan rolled his eyes and turned away from the source of irritation, content in ignoring the oversized _kid_ until they had their snacks and were away from him. The other boy did not take the hint, however, and confirmed he was a magician by making a dove appear on the tiny detective's shoulder.

"Come on, tantei-kun," Kaito said brightly. The dove hopped from one shoulder to the top of Conan's head. "Don't be like that; I'm just trying to be friendly." Another dove appeared from thin air and landed on the tall teen's own shoulder. "See? Now we look alike; we could tour the country, or at least the Budokan, doing magic. I can be the daring and charismatic magician, and you can be," he snorted, "you can be the rabbit I pull out of my hat. You're small enough."

Conan glared.

"Don't like the idea? Then you can be the shrimp to my cocktail. Or maybe the Sonny to my Cher. Or how about..."

"How about the mouse to your elephant?" Conan suggested in a dark voice.

"Except I'm not really scared of mice, tantei-kun," Kaito said brightly. "I guess putting you on stage would be kind of hard, though, nobody would see you. Have you been drinking your milk? Calcium builds strong bones and it might give you a growth spurt - though for you you'd probably have to drink four hundred thirty-five gallons. That must be an entire heard of cows, unless you drink goat's milk? Or maybe soy milk? Say, are you..."

"Are you trying to piss me off?" Conan growled.

Kaito lifted his hands in a placating gesture. "Easy, easy, tantei-kun. Wouldn't want Ran-nee-chan up there to hear you using that king of language, would we? Unless you want me to _milk_ that, too?"

"Don't be so familiar with her," Conan bit out, unable to fully stop his temper. This kid just _grated_ on his nerves.

Kaito continued to grin brightly. "You sound like a father when you say that. Or maybe an overprotective boyfriend. Don't tell me you plan to marry her, do you?" At Conan's involuntary blush, that damnable smile only _broadened_. "You _are_? Oh, tantei-kun, I feel sorry for you. You must be so jealous when a handsome guy like me comes along and sweeps her off her feet. Like this."

And in one fluid, graceful motion (something Conan was realizing was common for this upstaging kid) Kaito swung up to his full height and produced a bouquet of flowers with a puff of smoke and moved into an elegant bow. "A humble bouquet for a flower that outshines this pittance," he said in a grandiose voice.

Ran blushed (_curse him!!_) and took the flowers with a soft, "Th-thank you."

Aoko, at least, seemed to see what was going on. "Kaito, what game are you playing now?" she demanded.

"Nothing!" the double said in mock innocence. "Tantei-kun here wanted to express his love for Ran-chan here, so I thought I'd help things along."

Conan turned beat red, as did Ran behind her flowers. Unable to take the teasing any more, Conan decided it was perfectly all right for a seven-year-old to act like a seven-year-old, and so he kicked the teen in the shin.

"Ow!!" The yelp drew a few startled looks, and Conan considered it perfectly justified. He ducked behind Ran's legs, a makeshift barrier at best, but he felt Ran's hand on his head, and with just that simple gesture he knew that she understood what had been happening.

"It looks like Kaito-san didn't make a very good impression on Conan-kun," she said cautiously.

"Oh, Kaito never makes a good impression," Aoko said smoothly, all the while glaring daggers at Kaito. "He's just a big goof that likes pushing buttons. He never knows when to put a sock in it."

"Aoko, that's mean!" Kaito defended with a theatrical whine. "Tantei-kun and I were getting along just _fine_!"

"Then why did he just kick you?" Aoko demanded. "You're always pissing people off with your damn teasing. Just look at me! I _know_ you and you still piss me off; imagine how you come off to an innocent kid?"

"There is _nothing_ innocent about that brat!" Kaito retaliated.

Conan tugged lightly on Ran's sleeve, and the karate expert leaned down to listen to his comment. "I get the feeling this is pretty common," he said in a low voice.

"Yes," she said softly. "They remind me of Hattori-kun and Kazuha-chan."

"Except _he's_ not in denial," Conan agreed. "Did you see...?"

"When he first came in? Yes I did," Ran said. "I wonder if that was the first time he really _noticed_ her."

"Who knows? ...Who cares?"

"Shinichi, you're mean."

Conan involuntarily tensed. "Ran, not in public."

Ran blinked when she realized what she said. "I'm sorry, Conan-kun, I didn't realize..."

"No, it's okay," he said quickly, "with all the noise those two are making," he gestured vaguely at Aoko and Kaito, the former again taking swings at the latter, "I doubt anyone heard it. But..."

"I know, Conan-kun, I know," Ran said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, we're almost next in line, let's get some snacks."

* * *

After two sandwiches each, Ran and Conan were blessedly full, and Ran decided it was time to go down to the locker room and change. Kaito - surprising Conan and making the magician even more of an oddity in his mind - had eagerly offered to escort them down to the lockers and entertain them on the way. More doves appeared and disappeared - one landing on Conan's head and pecking him without fail, to say nothing of the cards appearing all _over_ Ran's person. adding to Conan's annoyance and sky-rocketing irritation.

When the fourth card appeared in Ran's bra Conan coughed as loud as he dared. "This magic is lame," he said in a precocious voice. The dove bit his ear in seeming retaliation.

"You're just jealous I'm such a good showman," Kaito offered, picking the dove off of Conan's head and juggling it with two of its mates before they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Nooo," Conan retorted.

Ran and Aoko giggled. Passing down a doublewide hall, many people were walking back and forth, many in martial arts uniforms. "I guess the lockers are this way, huh?" Kaito said brightly. "Oh, careful of the wet floor."

The quartet passed around a waist high yellow sign standing by an "Employee's Only" door, the silhouette of a worker bowing and the words "Caution, Wet Floor" stamped on it. Conan frowned, looking at the floor; there were no signs of a puddle or cleaner, nor was there a maintenance bucket filled with water or a mop. Similarly, the door was not completely shut - not ajar, but Conan could see about half of the inside jam of the door. He stared at it as they passed, turning his head to see if he could spy anything else out of place. Still frowning, Conan continued walking.

An employee in uniform stepped up. "I'm sorry," she said politely, "only participants of the tournament can enter the lockers."

"Aw," Kaito said, "You mean we don't get a grand tour?"

"No, I'm sorry."

Ran turned slightly. "I can take it from here," she said brightly. "I've been in tournaments before. Conan-kun," she added, looking down. "See if you can find a good seat; that way I can see you cheering for me."

"Oh," Aoko said brightly. "He can sit with us."

"... Eeeeeeeeh??" Conan and Kaito cried out simultaneously.

"Kaito, don't be like that," Aoko said sternly. "You can't seriously expect him to sit by himself in a crowd as big as this is going to be."

Kaito rolled his eyes. "I guess not," he drew out in an _almost_ conciliatory tone. "I mean, we have no idea if this ankle-biter has a license to be on his own, or if he's had his shots or not. I mean, what if he goes rabid? Then, of course, there are all the other ankle-biters out in the crowd - if he finds more of his own species there might be problems. Hey, ankle-biter, have you been neutered?" Kaito crouched down, eye level with Conan as he asked the last question; there was no hint of a grin anywhere except his voice.

Conan was about to kick his shin again - this time with his sneakers _on_ - when a new voice entered the conversation.

"_You again?!_"

Conan, glaring at the obnoxious kid, saw the unabated flat grimace of annoyance, even irritation, before there was a sigh and a decidedly more neutral face slipped over his countenance as Kaito stood and turned. Conan privately marveled - didn't his face get sore from making so many expressions?

The entire mood of Kaito and Aoko had changed, Conan noted, as a tall teenager with a firm build pounded out of the lockers, in the whites of a karate practitioner.

"Don't worry, Minagami-senpai," Kaito said in a smooth tone. "We aren't here to stalk you or bug your or anything else you want to delude yourself into thinking. We're just here to cheer you and Junko-san on since you're schoolmates."

"I don't want you here, you hack magician!"

Aoko stepped in while Kaito calmly took a sip of his soda. "Mingami-senpai, we're showing support of our school, all right? Katanaka-sensei asked us to, and--"

"I'm here to hope someone kicks your ass," Kaito offered brightly. "I figure if you're taken down a peg or two you might not be so much of a jerk to everyone around--"

Minagami lunged forward, shoving Aoko aside and grabbing the wrist holding the soda. The cup spilled everywhere, all over Kaito and (because he was so low to the ground...) Conan's head, but the fake seven-year-old saw the flash of pain on the magician's face before he covered it with an indignant glare.

"Ran!" he said quickly, but the love of his life was already on it, thrusting a palm into Minagami's elbow, forcing it to bend and let go of Kaito. Said teen stepped back several times, Aoko immediately by his side.

"There's no need for this here," Ran said gently, a fierce gaze on the other karate practitioner. "Save it for the tournament."

The attacker glared; even Conan could feel the negative energy radiating off the muscular teen, before standing down. He leveled a sneer at Kaito and Aoko, the former rubbing his wrist behind his back.

"You're right, of course," he said to Ran, eyes never leaving his classmates. "I shouldn't let hack magicians like him get to me. But then, I guess it's to be expected, since his father sucked so bad he killed himself with his own magic. He failed even in his suicide."

The reaction was instantaneous, and it was several minutes after it all happened that Conan could process everything he saw. First was the unhidden _shock_ at the clear insult that appeared on _both_ Kaito and Aoko's faces. The girl's face switched to rage: dark blue rage as she stepped forward and slapped Minagami as hard as she could. "How dare you! _How dare you_! He was a _good_ man! You didn't know him!! You have no right--! Don't you _dare_ say--!"

Kaito, meanwhile, had a myriad of expressions flitter across his face. Conan recognized shock, very raw pain, _anger_, determination, and at least a dozen others that the tiny detective couldn't name quickly enough before that carefully neutral face dropped back in place and he stepped forward as well. Soda dripping off his clothes, he grabbed Aoko's hand with his good one before she moved to strike him again. Ran, too, had again stepped in, taking the girl's shoulders and gently pushing her back. Kaito's touch seemed to quiet Aoko; she turned her dark and tearful eyes to the teen. They had drawn quite a crowd and several Budokan officials were quickly appearing.

"Onii-san!"

Conan's eyes darted over to see a slight girl that was unmistakably the attacker's sister dressed in a suit darting over to them. "Onii-san, not again," she said quickly.

"You're defending them again?" Minagami demanded. "And why are you not changed? Where have you been?"

"I was taking care of--"

"Oh, never mind," he said, grabbing her wrist. "Let's get you changed before your _interests_ distract you further."

And, just as quickly as he appeared, Minagami and his sister disappeared back into the locker rooms.

It was quiet for several minutes, the tension still clinging to the air.

Ran, once again saving the day, glanced down at Conan's drenched head and Kaito's equally stained clothes. "Aoko-san," she said softly, gently to get the upset girl's attention. "Could you do me a favor and help wash Conan-kun? I really have to get changed, and I don't want his hair to get all sticky..."

The girl blinked rapidly, trying to stave off tears, and looked to Ran. "Oh," she said in a whisper. "Oh... Oh. Yes, yes, of course." A hot drop of moisture still slid down her cheek, but she wiped at it vigorously and sniffed deeply. "Yes, I'll get him cleaned up. Come on, Conan-kun," she said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let's find a restroom, okay?"

Conan gave one last look to Ran, worried that she was going to the same place as Minagami was, but she smiled gently and waved him off, giving a thumbs up to indicate she would be just fine. Kaito lingered, his neutral face staring at the locker room, before he turned around and jogged after Aoko and Conan.

"Aw, come on, Aoko, what about me? Shouldn't _I_ be cleaned up too? I can give you my shirt if you want..."

Aoko, for once, didn't retaliate with an answer.

* * *

Ran, Conan decided, was the only person in the _world_ who was gentle with children. Sitting on the sink of the girl's restroom (a fact alone that was causing him decades worth of embarrassment), he had to endure Aoko's rough handling as she tried to wash the soda out of his hair and face, rubbing him all the wrong ways and always _hard_. He was certain his cheek was raw from the maltreatment, to say nothing of the multiple directions his hair kept sticking; she kept missing sections of soda, and it either stuck his hair up in weird angles or stuck together making it _hurt_ when she tried to pull it apart.

All the same, he couldn't bring himself to complain as he saw the look of fury on her face, and her continued mutterings over what her classmate Minagami had said in regard to the magician's father.

"Ne," he said in his softer, boyish tones. "Was Kaito-nii-chan's father a magician, too?"

Aoko paused in her ministrations, looking down at Conan as if for the first time. Another hot tear burned down her cheek, and she sniffled and huffed at the same time.

"Yes, yes he was," she said slowly, a lump in her throat. "I'm sorry," she hiccupped. Growling she closed her eyes and rubbed at them fiercely. "I'm sorry," she said again, calmer now. "Yes, Kaito's father was a magician. He died in an accident several years ago. We were only eight. He was a _good man_. He was a good..." Her voice broke again, and Aoko buried her face in her hands, unable to stop the wellspring.

Conan felt unbelievably awkward, uncertain what to do, if there was anything he even _should_ do. He remembered the times he'd felt like crying when he was first shrunk, unable to completely handle what had happened to him and incapable of truly comprehending how much he had lost until time moved on, months went by, and Kudo Shinichi slowly died. He remembered how much he'd wanted to shout and scream and wail and lament, but he didn't dare - not even to Agasa or Hattori - for fear that if he allowed himself to break like that, he'd never pull himself back together. The various expressions on Kaito's face suddenly made much more sense - at least some of them, and Conan felt just a little bit less critical of the teen magician.

Sighing, he stood up on the counter and walked over to the far end, rolling out a measure of paper towel and ripping it out of the dispenser. He sunk to his knees at the nearest sink and turned the water on, dipping his head under it wholesale, rinsing the last of the soda out from his hair. He washed his face and his glasses and, ripping the paper towel in half, ran a piece of it through his hair to absorb most of the moisture. Walking back to Aoko, he offered the other half of the paper towel.

"I'm sorry it hurt so much," he said softly.

Aoko looked up, her dark blue eyes rimmed with red, and she took the paper towel graciously.

"He was like a second father to me," she said. "Kaito and I live next door to each other and he was so great when Mom died; it hurt Kaito so much when we got the news. To hear him _say_ that... that..." Fury reentered her face and she crumbled the towel violently in her hands, ripping it to shreds. "He dragged it all up again! Oh, I hate him so much I could _kill_ him!!" She growled and slammed a fist down on the counter, only to yank it back up in pain. "Ow! Bastard! _Bastard!!_"

Conan watched the girl cycle through her emotions without restraint, absently rubbing the paper towel through his head some more before finally removing it.

"Aoko-nee-chan?" he asked softly when he thought it safe. She stopped in her tirade and turned to stare at him. "Aoko-nee-chan, is that really a good idea?" he asked, trying to put on his most innocent face. "Is killing somebody really a good idea?"

The girl covered her mouth quickly, at last realizing that a seven-year-old child was watching her.

"Ojii-san is a detective," Conan pressed. "He solves a lot of murders and catches the bad guys. But you know, they're never really happy after the murder. If anything, it just makes them more... sad."

"Oh, Conan-kun," she said quickly, hiccupping again. "No, I didn't mean... I'm sorry, that wasn't..." She gave a small, half laugh. "I'm sorry, Conan-kun, you keep seeing me at my worst. I must look very scary to you right now." The girl took a deep breath, centering herself. "Let's see if I can't change that. We don't have to talk about that mean old Minagami-senpai, and I promise I'll only tell happy stories about Kaito's father. He was a really good man.

"Conan-kun..." She added, her face changing slightly. "I say a lot of things when I'm mad, okay? That doesn't necessarily mean I mean it. I don't think it's in me to kill anybody, okay? So... so just forget I said anything."

The shrunken detective nodded, but not because he agreed with her. He'd seen many a murder come up spur of the moment, in a heat of rage or fit of insanity. _Anybody_ was capable of murder.

"Anyway," Aoko said in brighter tones. "I really want Kaito to see you with your hair all sticking out like that, you look like a miniature Kaito."

Aghast, Conan flung around to see himself in the mirror, and lo it was true. Hair sticking every which way, eyes round and wide in surprise, he did look like Kaito. That irked him to no end, and he quickly dug through his pockets for a comb.

Aoko giggled as she lifted him safely to the ground. Exiting the restroom, they traveled a few feet down the hall to the entrance of the boy's restroom. Aoko knocked on the door while Conan furiously tried to fix his hair.

"Kaito? How's it going in there? Are you cleaned up yet?" she called in.

"No, well, yes and no," was the bedraggled reply. A heavyset man left the restroom, and Kaito stuck his head out after him. He looked more than a little perturbed. "He got soda _everywhere_," he complained. "If it was just my shirt or my jacket I wouldn't mind walking around a little damp, but it's on my jeans too." He blushed. "And in a very _indelicate_ place, too. I don't want to go around looking like... like... well, like _that_."

Aoko frowned.

"Look," Kaito said, rubbing a hand through his mess of hair. Conan noticed that the arm was bare; had he taken off all his layers in an attempt to clean up? "I'll just hang out here for a while until the water marks are a little less obvious. Find us a seat in the stands and I'll come out when it's safe. I'll even get a second round of snacks, okay?"

Conan looked up to see Aoko still frowning. Clearly, she didn't want to leave her friend alone after such an ordeal. Kaito seemed to sense this, as well.

"I could use the time," he said lower, more serious tone. Conan blinked, the voice sounding eerily familiar.

"Kaito..."

The magician shrugged as he brought his head back into the restroom and closed the door. "I'll be fine," he said through the door in bright tones. "Keep the ankle-biter entertained, okay? I'll feed him before he starts nibbling on your toes!"

The pair stared at the door for a moment longer, before Conan glowered, breaking Aoko's train of thought and bringing her back to the present.

"Come on, Conan-kun, let's get seated before the tournament starts. By now we'll be pressed to find good seats."

* * *

A murderer finished preparing the trap, tying the string and positioning the weapon. Closing the door softly, leaving it only slightly ajar. Now... now he would die.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Ehehe. Conan's back. And don't he and Kaito get along swimmingly? ^_^ They're both teasing each other horribly. Of course, Kaito knows Conan's secret so he's much better at teasing. Ah the chaos that will eventually occur.

Oh, and of course, the murder is being set up. See you in two weeks!


	5. Chapter 5

**Part Five**

It all boiled down to two very gorgeous mathematical formulas:

Nakamori + Task Force + Showers = Loads of Fun

And,

Teasing + Tantei-kun = (Fun) to the power of (Fun)

It was times like this that Kaito just _loved_ mathematics. Before he'd caught up with Aoko at the concession stands, the magician had toured the exterior of the Budokan to its fullest to get familiar with the area and find any interesting things. In fact, he'd gotten to the Budokan almost an hour before he saw Aoko arrive. And it was time well spent. Casing the surrounding streets and buildings for possible escape routes, crawling around the roof, looking for any access points not listed in building plans (none, damn it....) and all around listing his options for the area. He'd gone through almost five different disguises doing so, since the media covering the tournament was all over the place and Kaito hadn't wanted one face to be seen in all those camera shots if Nakamori ever got the idea to find someone who was casing the area.

He'd already known that the building had showers down below the arena for the martial artists who competed in the Budokan and Kaito just hadn't been able to wait to check them out. So he made Aoko wait (knowing her reaction to see him arrive tardy would most likely be wonderful as always) and easily slipped downstairs.

So while Isumi the janitor (his current disguise) had plugged along at his job, Kaito had been positively _giddy_ inside. Laughter interrupted almost every other thought as a face-splitting grin threatened to appear on his face. Almost every fiber of his being had been positively _vibrating_ in glee at the day he was having and as he had pondered how his heist was going to go.

Oh, it was making him so happy.

The showers were _definitely_ going to be a major centerpiece when he escaped from Nakamori after stealing the jewel. A beautiful centerpiece. With rainbows, ice, waterfalls, and swimming if he set up his tricks right. _Hehehehehehehe, this is going to be _awesome_! So totally awesome!_

And it had been with such boisterous thoughts that Kaito left the sub levels of the Budokan to finally meet up with Aoko. He had found her in the concession stand, finally bereft of her heavy winter coat that she always wore and Kaito hadn't been able to stop just looking.

Aoko was his best friend. Best friend in the whole world, number one supporter and cheerleader, and all that. But Kaito, though he flipped her skirt and teased her about her femininity, had never really seen her as a girl. She was just his Best Friend. But when he had seen her standing in line, talking with another girl their age and a child, he'd finally _noticed_ that she wasn't just a _girl_, she was a _woman_. With a figure. With a face. With various aspects that he dreamed of but had never seen, even though it was right in front of him, under boyish clothes and bulky school uniforms.

_Woah_....

Naturally, he couldn't let Aoko know that he'd just realized that she was a _she_. Besides, those sorts of thoughts could lead to some very complicated matters and there was no way in _hell_ he'd go down that road until he'd taken a look at all the possibilities. (And escape routes. A good thief always checks out the escape routes....)

Then, to make Kaito's day even _better_, he'd realized just _who_ Aoko had been talking with. Mouri Ran. And Edogawa Conan, mini version of Kudo Shinichi. That's what had led to the second mathematical formula that had just sent Kaito's day whirling into the Definition of Fun for Phantom Thieves. Kaito had wasted no time whatsoever in pressing buttons and watching the tantei-kun absolutely _struggle_ to Not React because nobody was supposed to know those buttons were supposed to exist.

Really, some of tantei-kun's attempts at Not-Reacting were even better than Aoko.

But the real kicker that had just Made Kaito's Day was when the shrimpy, serious, cynical Shinichi had turned to Kaito and said,

"Only one person calls me 'tantei-kun,' and you're not him."

Deep inside the magician's mind, a mini version of himself was prancing around like an idiot, dancing, twirling, flipping, and laughing his heart out. _So I'm not Kaitou Kid, eh? Well isn't _that_ an interesting thought, tantei-kun?_ None of his bubbling joy leaked out beyond a wide, amused smile that seemed to put the shrunken detective on edge. Teasing his favorite follower became all the more fun after that. Really, he had to stop leaving himself wide open like that; a Phantom Thief could take serious advantage.

It was worth getting kicked in the shin (and _damn_ if that kid didn't have some strength, even without those cursed shoes...)

Unfortunately for Kaito, his absolutely Fantastic Mood was tainted once Minagami had shown up. Granted, Kaito didn't give a rat's ass about anything that Minagami had to say or thought, but the upperclassman had a nasty habit of just putting a Big Damper on things. It was to be expected. Until:

"But then, I guess it's to be expected, since his father sucked so bad he killed himself with his own magic. He failed even in his suicide."

Aoko was able to visually show what Kaito was internally feeling. When she slapped him, Kaito felt grim satisfaction since his bubbling joy from earlier had transformed in an instant to cold, burning _pain_ that suddenly weighed him down like a dozen chains around his body.

As Aoko shouted and railed against the scathing remark that Minagami had made, Kaito stood in shock before reality slapped him in the face and he realized that making a scene was exactly what Minagami wanted. He grabbed Aoko's hand and pulled her away, the tantei-kun's girlfriend helping to diffuse the situation by telling Aoko to help Conan wash up.

Kaito, through no conscious effort, gave a flippant, flirty response as he followed them to the bathrooms. It was autopilot after that. There were other people in the bathroom and Kaito offered an apologetic smile as he tried to shake out the soda from his jacket and shirt before giving a defeated sigh and pulling both off. The other patrons gave a sympathetic nod before politely turning and going back to their business.

There was a moment. A moment where Kaito just stared at himself in the mirror. He'd had to live with the pain of losing his father for a _long_ time. It was a constant companion that he knew intimately well. During the years he'd thought it was just an accident, there was always that sharp feeling that it just Wasn't Right, because his father was _too damn good_ of a magician to just make a clumsy mistake during a performance. A sharp feeling that didn't make any sense at all. When he'd learned on pure accident that his father didn't make a mistake, but was _killed_, the sharp feeling mutated into something he still couldn't quite define yet. Something a bit less sharp, but a whole lot more painful.

But to have that jackass say that his father had tried to commit suicide was more like... he couldn't even describe it. A strange combination of the shock of hearing his dad had died, the horror of watching tantei-kun bleed into a bucket, the trapped feeling when Nightmare revealed that he knew who Kaito was, the anger of when he'd discovered his father had been murdered all jumbled into a mixed ball that made no sense but felt very, very strong.

Kaito took another deep breath, staring at himself in the mirror. What Minagami had said was just so _wrong_. Kaito had met a lot of jerks, particularly in his night-job, but Minagami Kakeru brought it to a whole new level. Such a cruel thing to say...

With a sharp shiver, Kaito shook himself and his head, trying to dispel the heavy chains that were weighing him down. _Come on, Kaitou Kid, focus. You have a _job_ to do today. Checking out the Budokan and preparing for a Mexican rock band with a good chunk of sphalerite to check out__. Still trying to find a good heist for Osaka to properly thank the Detective of the West for his bravery, insanity, and help when saving a tantei-kun who was bleeding into a fucking bucket. Stay on task_.

Kaitou gave himself another good shake, boxing up that mass of feeling to deal with later, the same way he'd have to contemplate his relationship with Aoko later. Now was a time not for thinking, but for looking around.

"Kaito? How's it going in there? Are you all cleaned up?"

Poker Face. Poker Face.

Kaito went to the door and noticed his pants were still soaked from the soda (_Damn bastard didn't just get my shirt and jacket, but my_ pants_ too? Beat the shit out of him, Ran-chan!_) Still, it made for a good excuse to Aoko to stay behind and give him time to explore the upper levels of the Budokan. She didn't quite take it, but when he mentioned that he needed a moment not just to dry off, she seemed to take it better and gave him the space.

A few minutes had him in one of the stalls; and once the bathroom was empty, reaching up to a ceiling tile and pulling out his janitorial clothes from earlier. A quick change and Isumi was once more plugging along with his cart, inspecting the Budokan and not thinking about what had happened.

With the sharp eye of a professional, Isumi wandered around, noting that the main floor was nice and open, giving him plenty of room for any acrobatics he wanted to try. And if he played it up with the lighting, there was plenty of opportunity to make for a spectacular performance. There was a catwalk for overhead lighting and rows of seats spreading outward for lots of possible aerial performances to tick off one pipe-smoking inspector. Plus, the crowd would probably love it. All this, with the showers he had discovered downstairs, was going to make for a beautiful heist. (Isumi let a small bubble of joy bounce through him weakly.)

This was all secondary, however, to the primary concern he had for staking out the Budokan. Akako, crazy witch that she was, didn't give idle warnings. There was a danger to him for his heist if he wasn't careful, so it was with sharp eyes that Isumi looked at all heating and air-conditioning ducts, broom closets, etc, etc. He needed to make sure he had not only Plans B-F, but also a set of Plans RR-ZZ.

Which was why he had moved his way up to the rafters to start checking out said lights. And ceilings. The roof didn't have any access and there would be no hang-gliding to get away as he had discovered earlier, but just because Kaitou Kid was fond of that (very fast) escape route, didn't mean it was the only one he knew how to use. And what he discovered up near the ceiling of the Budokan was absolutely priceless. A crawlspace not in any architectural drawings or diagrams of the building. A _large_ crawlspace that extended across the entire ceiling that was perfect for Isumi to hide things like disguises, gadgets and all sorts of other fun things.

Isumi spent the better part of an hour crawling around, checking access points, making a small map for himself, and double and triple checking where the wiring for the ceiling lights were. After all, if worse came to worst, he could hide up here until Nakamori and his posse left. (Not that it was a particularly desirable method of escape, but any port in a storm, if it came to it....)

Still, before that was an option, the janitor Isumi had a lot more exploring of the Budokan to do.

* * *

Minagami Kakeru scowled at the note in his hand. The damn magician had somehow magicked a note into his duffle bag demanding a face off in a small room of the Budokan. Kakeru certainly wouldn't mind a proper face off. A chance to finally try and put that meddling magician in his place. But the time would be during his sister's match in a few moments. He'd rather keep an eye on her and her _interests_ before he faced down Kuroba, but this remained a chance he couldn't pass up. Nobody knew the two would be there.

So Kakeru went to the wet floor sign, finding the door open just enough to see the door jam. So this was the right place.

Checking the halls to ensure that everyone was either watching the match with his sister or changing, he opened the door, ignoring the small click.

"Alright, Kuroba, I think it's time we finished this!" he growled, letting the door swing shut behind him.

As the door creaked, Kakeru looked around, wondering where the hell Kuroba was hiding. Because there was no doubt in his mind that Kuroba was hiding so that he could appear in a puff of smoke like he always did.

"Kuroba...!"

The door finally clicked shut, and with its click came the sound of a small explosion. An explosion mimicked in his chest as pain suddenly engulfed him. Kakeru looked down to see blood staining his white gi and he realized that the magician had somehow done something to him.

He needed help.

He could barely move.

Kakeru looked around frantically as things slowly went numb. Some way to attract attention.

A fuse box, or some sort of electrical panel.

Kakeru lunged at it, bloody hands flipping switches, pulling at wires, anything to get someone to come.

Vision darkened.

Body slumped.

Breathing slowed.

Beats stopped.

* * *

Meanwhile, Conan was learning that while Ran and Aoko got on swimmingly, when it was just him and the inspector's daughter things didn't go quite as well. It wasn't like she was mean or anything. She was very pleasant when she spoke with him. The problem was that he wasn't even a blip on her radar because she was still fuming horribly over what her senpai had said.

"I _still_ can't believe that jackass actually _said_ that about Kaito's dad.... That complete and utter _bastard_...." she fumed under her breath. Well, that was the tame version of what she muttered. Frankly, Conan was impressed with her vast and vicious vocabulary. Clearly, she had learned a lot from her father in that regard. But then, Kaitou Kid inspired that sort of language in people.

"Aoko-nee-chan?" he asked quietly, hoping to bring her back to reality.

"Huh? Oh." Aoko shook herself. "Gaaah! I'm sorry, Conan-kun. I'm _really_ not showing you my best today. That jack-er-jerk is just so infuriating."

Conan offered a bright smile. "You don't have to stop yourself from saying those words, Aoko-nee-chan. I've heard lots worse from your father. He never stops himself from swearing."

Aoko's face darkened in a way that reminded him of Ran when her father did something stupid. "My daddy doesn't censor himself around kids?" she growled. "That's it. I'm not cooking him dinner tonight! I swear, I'll be waiting for him when he gets in and his ears won't know what hit him!" She gave a soft smile to him. "Adults are supposed to set a better example for little kids like you, you know?"

Conan gave a childish scowl, but inside he smiled. She seemed a bit better.

"I guess this Minagami-nii-chan is a jerk to everyone?" he asked, hoping that as long as she was talking to him she wouldn't do something stupid like wring his neck thinking he was either Kaito or Minagami. (The former seemed likely given resemblance. The latter, not so much.)

Aoko nodded. "He's always been a bit of a cold fish, but last autumn, Kaito made some sort of joke about his sister. I don't remember what because it's _Kaito_; he makes a joke out of just about anything. But after Minagami-senpai heard it, he started to get real mean to both Kaito and his sister. Katanaka-sensei's tried to talk to them, I think, but he just keeps saying these really cruel things."

Conan nodded sagely. "So Minagami-nii-chan's a bully."

The inspector's daughter smiled and gave a light chuckle. "That sounds about right." Reaching out she ruffled his still-damp hair.

"Uwah!" Conan cried out. He started digging into his pockets to find his comb _again_.

"Sorry, Conan-kun. You just look so much like Kaito when he was your age."

"Hmph!"

"Speaking of, where _is_ Kaito anyway? How long does it take to dry out your pants and get a round of snacks for us?"

Conan had been wondering the same thing. But he had to keep his little boy act up. He rather doubted that Kaito was still sulking over what Minagami had said, but he couldn't discount the possibility. He wanted to go back to the restroom and check, but he couldn't find an excuse to get away from Aoko.

He let out a small sigh. Well, if he couldn't do it alone... "Aoko-nee-chan? Why don't we go back and check on him? That way if he's still sad, we can cheer him up."

Aoko shook her head. "That's sweet of you, Conan-kun, but Kaito's rather private about how he feels about his dad. We'd be intruding, and that would be rude."

"So? He's rude to us!"

Aoko laughed. "Which is why we try not to imitate him!"

Conan put on a proper childish pout, turning to look down to the match below.

"Ah! It's Ran!"

Aoko lightly tapped the back of his head. "Ran-_nee-chan_. I know she gave you permission, but that's still rude."

Conan firmly ignored her, rubbing the back of his head and still trying to comb down the mess she made of it. Instead, his attention was focused solely on Ran as she gracefully entered the arena. Her white gi shining, her hair pulled back into a tail to keep it from her face, and her blue-grey eyes focused and determined.

As always, she looked utterly stunning.

"Go, Ran, go!" he called, standing in his seat and cheering for her.

"Ooooh, she's facing Junko-chan. I don't know who to root for," Aoko mumbled, but she still smiled, clearly trying to put away her irritations.

"Nakamori-san, what a pleasant surprise to see you here."

"Akako-chan!"

Conan pulled his eyes from Ran to see who the newcomer was. And promptly tried to school his expression so as not to show the utter _panic_ and _fear_ he had upon seeing this Akako-chan. The young woman looked to be the same age as Aoko, slightly taller than the inspector's daughter. But what had Conan's pulse racing was the black velvet hooded cloak, black skirt, black high-heeled shoes, and black gloves that she was pulling off. After all, black was _hardly_ Conan's favorite color.

_Is she a member of the Black Organization?_ his mind screamed as he focused in on her. Now realistically he knew that every person who wore black wasn't automatically a member of _Them_. After all, Saiko-sensei had worked for them and didn't look like he was dressed for a funeral every day. But that didn't stop the gut-reaction of flight-or-flight whenever Conan saw someone dressed in such a manner.

He shrunk behind Aoko subconsciously.

Akako reached up to pull off her cloak to sit and revealed deep, dark red hair, and a bright blood-red shirt, almost like it was matching her name. This did little to relieve Conan.

Aoko seemed to notice his hiding and turned to him. "Geez, Conan-kun, no one from our school is making a good impression on you, are we?"

He gave a high, nervous, panicked laugh. "Ne, ne?" he asked, trying to find something to rationalize his behavior, "don't bad guys wear black? Is she a bad guy?"

Aoko and Akako looked at each other and then laughed. Or rather, Aoko laughed loudly and Akako gave a demure sort of chuckle.

"An amusing child," Akako grinned. "I am Koizumi Akako, little boy, and I am not a 'bad guy'. I'm a girl."

Conan flushed against his will in embarrassment that could easily be interpreted as childish. Frankly, he rather _noticed_ that she was a woman, thank you. The way that shirt clung to her chest and her skirt hung from her hips flaunted it rather loudly.

Aoko ran a hand through his hair, messing it up again (_Argh!_) and tried to control her laughing. "No, Conan-kun, Akako-chan isn't a 'bad guy'. She's a classmate of mine. She's actually a pretty good witch. She's given me some very accurate fortunes before."

Some of his tightness unraveled. Of course. A fortune teller would be eccentric enough to try and look mysterious wearing black and red. But Conan didn't drop his guard. He focused on acting the little kid and went back to looking down to Ran and her match with Minagami Junko. He started cheering like a little kid was supposed to, having lost interest in the newcomer while inside his guard was up and he eavesdropped on Aoko and this Koizumi talking.

"Nakamori-san, I see that Katanaka-sensei spoke with you as well about supporting our school?"

"Yup. She grabbed you as well?"

"I came for different reasons."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Tell me, Nakamori-san, is Kuroba-kun here as well?"

"Oh, _him_." Conan could hear Aoko roll her eyes while he yelled about Ran's beautiful roundhouse kick. "He's supposed to be bringing us snacks. He's sure taking his sweet time." The sentence didn't have the bite he'd expected. Minagami's comments were still bugging her.

"I see. So Kuroba-kun came here after all." And _that_ sounded like disappointment. Conan inched his guard up further. That Koizumi was creepy.

"Akako-chan? What do you mea...ah!"

Nakamori's daughter was interrupted when the lights of the stadium started flashing erratically, almost a quarter of them going out completely.

Down in the arena, Ran and Junko had both stopped, looking around in confusion, like most of the audience did. But for Conan, something had wrested the remote control of his mind and raised the volume of his mental television up to full. Automatically, he realized that something was playing with a power panel, and that such power panels would be locked from public access. Except for one out-of-place caution sign on a floor that wasn't wet, with a door partially ajar.

"Conan-kun, stay close," Aoko said when the lights went out for a moment. But he didn't listen; he was already jumping out of his seat.

"_Ran!_" he called out, hoping she would hear him in the throng of people. She knew him well, she would understand that there was trouble and he was off to investigate. Knowing her, after the past few months of creating routines and habits during investigations to avoid missteps, she would be trying to find him to assist him as well.

"Conan-kun, get back here," Aoko called behind him, clearly hot on his heels as some of the light came back on again. But he couldn't focus on her; he had to make sure that his deduction was right.

He skidded around a corner and raced down the doublewide hall that he and Ran had gone down earlier on their way to the lockers.

"Conan-kun!"

Down the hall he ran. He could see the caution sign; it was pushed away from the door, evidence that something had changed since the last time he'd been here. His eyes were already cataloging. The floor was still dry; people were coming up from the lockers, looking around curiously; no one close enough to the maintenance door to have just left it, and no signs of someone having run away quickly, given how fast Conan had arrived.

Not slowing down at all, Conan leapt up to the handle of the now closed door, twisting it open. His momentum pushed to it open and into the small room. Sure enough, directly across from the door was a power panel and slumped beneath it, was a body.

Something grabbed his arm, jerking him back away from sweeping the scene with his eyes. "Conan-kun! I hope you don't give Ran-chan so much trouble, I mean really," Aoko was growling until she trailed off, having seen what Conan had unfortunately knew would be there.

She lifted Conan and stumbled backward, something stuck in her voice. He tried to wiggle out of her grasp, intent on checking things out before people started trampling over the evidence. From what he could see from where he was trapped in Aoko's arms, he could see that Minagami had most likely been shot based off of the blood pattern on his gi, or stabbed by something small, since he couldn't see any large tears in the fabric at this distance. There was something on the floor he couldn't quite make out that looked fluffy, and Minagami was clutching something tightly in his fist.

"Let me go, Aoko-nee-chan," he squirmed in her grip, trying to pull free so that he could take a better look.

But Aoko seemed to have found her voice as it ripped open into a scream.

Ran ran as quickly as she could, Minagami Junko trying to keep up with her. She knew that the lights flickering meant that something _dreadful_ had happened. Again. And that Conan was already going off to investigate, clearly having some idea where to start. All she could do was try and follow the direction she'd seen him go when she watched him take off from the stands, Aoko in hot pursuit.

_Please, Shinichi, don't run into a murderer and get hurt_. It was a prayer that she had started reciting every time one of these events occurred around her beloved (if shrunken) Shinichi. Even before she had learned that Conan was really the missing Detective of the East, she'd worried about his safety. Conan always had a knack for getting into trouble, but now that she _understood_ what he was after and what he would do, well… it comforted her in one way, because he wasn't an ignorant child, and scared her in another way, because he wasn't very cognizant of his limitations sometimes. Yes, people underestimated him because he looked and acted like a child, but that didn't mean that people would practice restraint because he was a child. So she worried. And her prayer became her mantra whenever a case appeared in front of them.

"Conan-kun!" she called. Despite her earlier mistake of names, whenever these situations arose she was very aware of what name she was using. It was a matter of safety and when these circumstances arose, her guard raised as well. But it was very draining to be so on guard. She couldn't _imagine_ how Shinichi had needed to adjust to being on guard like that all day every day.

"_Conan-k_--"

Her call was cut off by a scream. Well, at least she knew were Conan was now. Right in the thick of it.

Ran followed the scream, weaving through the thickening crowd on her way towards the stairs that headed to the lockers below. "_Conan-kun_!!" She burst through the crowd and almost instantaneously breathed a sigh of relief. Conan was being clutched very tightly by her new friend Aoko, and the not-child was trying very hard to get free. She ran forward. Aoko was still screaming, her eyes glued on something. Ran could take an educated guess so she put herself right in Aoko's line of vision. Not many people had the distinct _horror_ of seeing a dead body, so it wasn't surprising that a normal person, one not involved with detectives, was reacting so strongly. Aoko seemed to be too open a person to bury her feelings.

"Aoko-san!" she shouted, reaching out and applying pressure on the screaming girl's arms. _Come on, focus on me_. "Aoko-san, it's Ran. Everything's okay!" With Aoko distracted, Conan had finally wiggled his way free and had run back to the room where Ran was certain that there was a body.

_Oh, I wish Kuroba-kun was here for this. He'd probably be able to get through to her much faster than me_. Still, Shinichi had once told her, long ago, that she was a very calming type of person for others. She tried to figure out how to use this skill on her new friend.

"Aoko-san!" she shouted, trying to be heard through her screaming. She reached up, grabbing the other girl's face and brought them almost nose-to-nose. "Aoko-san!"

Something seemed to give and Aoko blinked, her scream fading into a hoarse sob. "Ran-chan?"

"Yes, Aoko-san, it's okay. Everything's going to be okay."

Aoko just kept sobbing, burying her face into Ran's shoulder. All Ran could think to do was rub her back and offer soothing words. Aoko was no doubt in too much of a jumble of emotions to really handle anything at the moment. Shinichi was no doubt turning the crime scene upside down and trying to keep people out of it at the same time.

"Aoko? _Aoko_?"

Ran looked up, wide-eyed, at hearing Shinichi's voice. But to her surprise, it wasn't Shinichi. Because Shinichi was in with a body and he wouldn't dare risk using his voice changer in such a crowd. But Kuroba Kaito seemed to be worming his way through the sea of people with only one thing in mind.

"_AOKO_!"

"Kaito!" Aoko pulled away from Ran and held open her arms as Kaito burst through and wrapped her in a warm hug. The magician, still looking a little damp in the hair, looked around confused before turning white at seeing what was behind Ran. Kaito swayed, sitting down firmly, still holding Aoko close, his jaw dropped.

Ran gave a look of sympathy, having been where both of them were many times before. It was an occupational hazard when being with Conan.

Behind her the door closed, whispers breaking out everywhere. A hand that was years too small lay on her shoulder. "Ran, call the police."

She nodded.

* * *

Hakuba was, to put it bluntly, utterly bored senseless. Granted, the conference he was attending with his father was about other Phantom Thieves across the world and had a lot of interesting tidbits on how to hunt down and capture them. But when it came right down to it, _none_ of them bore any relevance to catching Kuroba. He'd out-clever every one of the suggestions and methods presented, of that Hakuba had never been more certain. After all, unlike foreign Phantom Thieves, Kaito was welcomed and often invited by the Task Force. He'd have inside information as easily as Hakuba read through a mystery.

There were interesting bits. Stories of others as they chased down annoying thieves with bizarre and eccentric hobbies. Hakuba _was_ enjoying himself, but in the end, none of it was practical for him so he had to wonder why he was even there. Though the idea of being at the Budokan with Kuroba had its own set of pros and cons. It would all depend on what sort of mood the magician was in.

But he felt a pang at the idea that he'd been invited to compete and hadn't been able to go. He was often recognized for his deductive abilities, but it was a rather pleasant surprise to be recognized for his prowess in judo, especially since he very rarely ever had the opportunity to use it. In a way, he was skiving off the chance to show of his prowess to his classmates, and he never liked skipping. And Kuroba being there would no doubt make it all the more interesting.

He was brought out of his musings when his phone vibrated. He glanced down and was surprised to see the caller was Aoko. Very pleasantly surprised. Standing, he slid out of the auditorium that had an Indonesian police officer talking about their own Phantom Thief and pressed the answer key.

"Aoko-kun, this is a surprise, I--"

"Hakuba-kun! You have to help him!"

Needless to say, this wasn't what he was expecting to hear.

"Aoko-kun, what...?"

"Help him! They're going to arrest him!"

"Arrest whom? What is going on?"

Aoko spoke in short, angry, frustrated burst. "They're. Arresting. Kaito. For. Murdering. Minagami-sempai.

"...._What_?"

**

* * *

Author's Note**: Ah, and things finally get started. ^_^ We rather doubt anyone _didn't_ know who was going to get killed. But by whom and the motive might be illusive, we hope. Things are going to start happening. Mwahahha.

Next time: The investigation starts; we meet the lead investigator; Conan starts doing what he does best.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part Six**

Blood.

There was so much _blood_.

Since that time he helped little tantei-kun from a mysterious case of mass poisoning - a case that chibi-Kudo had managed to get in over his head (again) and be taken by a psycho psychologist and slowly _drained of his blood_, well, Kaito had become something of a phobic when it came to hemoglobin. A shattered morbidity meter would do that. He found himself getting slightly squeamish or queasy when he cut himself and deliberately turned away when it was someone else. When he'd found Aoko panicking in Ran's arms, and then turned to look into a storage closet, there was just so much blood that... that...

Well, his legs gave out from under him. He held Aoko tight, glad beyond measure that it wasn't _her_ blood, that the most important... that she was alright. It was about all his brain could process while it tried to reboot itself from that horrible, red, _bloody_ sight in the closet.

He didn't know how long it lasted, his holding Aoko and stroking her hair and sniffing her scent and reminding himself that it was fine; her clutching him like he was the only thing in the world, crying into his shoulder, shuddering in his arms, before something finally rewired itself in his head and he became aware of what was going on around him.

The chibi, Kudo, was staring at him with very sharp eyes, blue orbs narrow and not completely focused. The girlfriend Ran knelt down and whispered something in his ear. Even with sensitive hearing, the din of the crowd was so loud Kaito couldn't pick it up.

"You may want to sit down somewhere other than the floor," Conan said, boyish tones completely gone, as it always was when investigating a murder. "The police will need access to the crime scene."

Kaito, in a moment completely unlike himself, realized belatedly that he and Aoko were blocking the way to the murder closet. "... Oh," he said slowly. "Right." Gently, he coaxed Aoko up to her feet, and the two quickly found a bench further down the hallway.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a low voice. Aoko's dark blue eyes blinked, and she finally looked up to him.

"Kaito...?" She took in where she was slowly: the hall, the crowd, the noise. "Kaito, it was horrible! There was so much blood! Minagami-senpai...!"

"Ssh," he said softly, lifting his hand up and making a dove appear and let it land on her shoulder. "Try not to think about it, it will only hurt more. You can process it later. What happened? The lights flickered when I was in line and then you _screamed_..." A scream that had driven him into a blind, unmitigated panic at the thought she had somehow been hurt. He'd always cared for Aoko, had always been protective of her and his family, heck, even the Task Force held a certain level of fondness for him; but he'd never, _ever_ realized just how special Aoko was until that terrifying, petrifying scream. Even now, looking at her red face and swelling eyes and tear-stained cheeks, he felt himself reacting in a way he never noticed but always knew happened, and he realized that if there was one person who was going to take him down, it wouldn't be tantei-kun, Hakuba, or even Nakamori. It would be _her_. It scared him.

But they were emotions he dared not show, not with tantei-kun still eyeing him like that.

"Kuroba-kun." The pair looked up to see the cloaked Akako, staring down on him with a cool gaze. "You were a fool to come."

"And what does _that_ mean, Akako-san?" Kaito demanded, in no mood for her deliberate mystery.

"I warned you of the danger of coming here," she said simply, before turning with a flourish and walking away. "Now I will have to fix your grave error."

"........ What was that all about?" Aoko asked.

Kaito answered only half honestly, "I have no idea."

* * *

"You're a new face; where's Megure-keibu?" Ran asked when a plain clothed officer in a slate grey overcoat arrived with an entourage of uniforms.

"He's off solving a very important case," said officer replied, very pompous and self-important. "He's entrusted the case to me, so there's nothing to worry about. We'll take care of it from here, so please step back and..."

"Ne, ne," Conan chirped, the seeming seven year old popping up from the closet turned murder room. "Do you think that's the weapon?"

The inspector swiveled down to look at him, a perturbed look on his face as he glared at the child. The teen Kaito watched it all from his bench.

"What on earth is this _child_ doing in a crime scene?" he demanded. "He's likely contaminated everything, get the brat out of here."

"I can vouch for him," Ran said quickly, stepping forward and in front of Conan. "I'm Mouri Ran, daughter of Mouri Kogoro. The two of us have participated in enough cases to know how to treat a crime scene. Believe me, he hasn't touched anything. Now, who are you?"

"Hoshizuki," he said simply, offering no title. Conan narrowed his eyes, suspicious. Ultimately, though, the case came first, and so he put on a brighter face and reached up to pull at his sleeve.

"Ne, neeee," he whined, "I think I found the murder weapoooon! Come see, come see!"

"I'd recommend you look," Ran said with a straight face. "He hasn't even started getting annoying yet." Only then did a ghost of a smile cross her features.

Hoshizuki rolled his eyes visibly, but turned to look inside the utility closet. His face greened slightly at the body, but there were no other outward appearances of discomfort.

The closet itself was small, at best a nine-foot by twelve-foot rectangle; only two light bulbs offered illumination around all the ductwork that ran over the ceiling. Metal shelves lined two walls and on the third, opposite the door, was an electrical panel. This was marred with streaks of blood and wires were obviously yanked, some only barely still connected, while switches went on or off almost sporadically. It was beneath the panel that the body laid, on its side with its back to the panel. It was curled into itself, blood pooled heavily around the body and the muscular teen's whites were soaking up the blood. Conan easily hopped around the body and, using his handkerchief to protect prints, hopped up and climbed the shelves until he was level with some of the adult's chests.

"Ne, ne, do you see this?" he asked brightly, pointing to an incredibly thin metal pipe. "Doesn't this look like a murder weapon?"

With a long-suffering sigh the title-less man tried to humor the boy. "I suppose a pipe like that could bash a man's head in, but since there's no blood on it, and since the victim was shot, clearly you need to let the grown ups handle--"

"But it could have been the murder weapon," a new voice said. Conan and Hoshizuki turned to see an older woman in a blue shawl, perhaps thirty, appear by Ran's shoulder. "You can see the gunshot residue on it, can't you?"

"What?" the man in grey said, blinking. He involuntarily spun around as Conan held up the pipe in his handkerchief.

"And guess what, guess what?" the teen turned shrunken detective added, "There's a string attached to it! Hattori-nii-chan says string is used all the time in murders!"

"I don't see a--" Conan, not about to let Hoshizuki dismiss him, pulled on the string after the detective picked up the evidence, and the four people in the room heard a clicking noise.

"That sounds like the cocking of a gun," the woman said, tilting her head to one side.

"Oh?" Ran asked when she saw Conan's eyes narrow. "How would you know that?"

"More importantly, who are you?" the detective said in a louder voice to supercede Ran.

"I'm Katanaka Rumiko," she answered, "I'm, or, I was, Kakeru-kun's teacher. I came in to ask if it would be all right if I took his sister home. Junko-kun is quite upset and staying here wouldn't help her."

"All suspect--" the detective started, but Conan really didn't have the patience for such a self-assured idiot (Kogoro was more than enough, thank you) and released his hold on the string, letting the clicking sound repeat itself and bounded over to Katanaka. "Wow, sensei, you must sure know a lot!" he chirped, internally rolling his eyes at how childish he sounded. "You know what a gun cocking sounds like! How'd you know? How'd you know?"

Katanaka blinked at the child, surprise on her face as she thought. "From the games, I guess; I'd never really thought about it."

"Games?" Conan asked, putting excitement in his voice. "I love games! What kinds of games do you play? I wanna learn how to do that!"

The woman smiled gently and put a hand on Conan's head, ruffling his dark locks of hair. "I wouldn't recommend the games I play, boy-kun. In America, the video games I play are rated for older teens because they're very violent and bloody. No child should play a first person shooter."

Under her hand, Conan's eyes narrowed at the information. If she played first person shooter video games from America, he had a good idea of which ones she was referring to and, if that was the case, then it would be natural for her to know what the cocking of many different types of guns would sound like; it would also explain why she could stand in a utility closet with a blood-soaked body just feet away and not be nervous, like Hoshizuki or Ran clearly were. If she played a lot, her level of desensitization would make her less affected, like himself. But did she have the mechanical knowledge, the understanding of the physics of guns in order to create a mock up using a modified pipe, an ad hock notch and string that, as Conan followed it with his eye, connected to the door handle.

"My, with your hair moussed like that you look like a young Kaito-kun!" Katanaka commented when she lifted her hand.

Irritation flared up in him, and he dug for his comb. Again.

"Would you all leave my crime scene?" Hoshizuki said sternly, "I'd like my team to analyze the place _eventually_. You there," he said pointing to a uniform, "put all the suspects in a room somewhere so they can be interviewed later."

Katanaka blanched. "'_Suspects_??'" she demanded, outraged. "You can't honestly think--"

"Sensei," the kid, Kaito, said softly, an arm wrapped around Aoko's shoulder. "I really wouldn't recommend arguing at this point. The sooner this is over with, the better." He looked at Conan for a moment, a quick glance that the boy almost missed, before adding with the grin, "We'll just let tantei-kun here prep us by letting him ask questions."

Conan frowned. What was that comment just for? It was almost like...

Shaking his head, he continued to run his comb through his hair, straightening it out. The officer led them down the double wide hall, through a door to a staircase. Ran fell in line with the faux-grade schooler.

"Any ideas yet?" she whispered under the pretense of helping Conan with his hair.

"The trick is pretty straight forward," Conan replied, equally quiet, "But I don't know who did it yet, and some things are bothering me."

"Like what?"

"Hey you two, hurry it up!" the office called, the other four – no, five - were already halfway up the stairs. Conan narrowed his eyes again, this time at the new arrival, the black-cloaked girl named Akako. Yes, there were several things still bothering him...

* * *

Kaito looked around the conference room they were all led to. He'd already been here when he'd been checking out the upper levels. This section of the Budokan hadn't interested him much because there was little he could do here that was _flashy_, but he already spied three means of escape as he sat Aoko down and took a seat next to her. Junko and Katanaka sat opposite them, Ran on the other side of Aoko. Akako slowly took the long way around the table before settling next to Katanaka with a carefully neutral face. Kudo, or rather Conan, took a seat at the head of the table, hopping up and swinging in the swiveling chair back and forth.

"I suppose the obvious question," Akako started, "is where everyone was when the lights flickered."

"Nu-uh," Conan said, swiveling in the chair but hardly looking like a child to Kaito's eye. The detective's eyes were too narrow, too calculating. "The question is where everyone was before the match started."

Akako's dark gaze lingered on the boy, and Kaito found himself more than a little curious when the teen turned toddler involuntarily shrunk back. Why was _Akako_ generating that reaction? Even _Kaitou Kid_ couldn't do that. The part time thief watched the boy in even more earnest.

"Minagami-senpai was shot when the lights went out," Akako replied, "I heard the officers say it, and it would make sense that his falling on the panel would cause the electrical failure."

"Sure, but that's what the suspect wanted," Conan said, his voice not quite boyish but not quite his own yet. "The suspect made a mock up and set it up real carefully, so when the door opened, the string pulled taught and cocked the gun, like Katanaka-sensei said. When the door closed, the string loosened and then the mock up could fire, killing the victim. That way, the suspect wouldn't have to be anywhere near there when the murder took place."

"You're very clever," Katanaka-sensei said. "It makes a certain amount of sense." Shrugging, she added, "I was down in front for a while as their teacher. When I got thirsty from cheering so much I went to the concession stand for some tea."

"I was in the lockers," Junko whispered softly. Katanaka-sensei put a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "I was changing for the match. Then I was in the match. If I was the last person who..." She bent her head down, hiding her face in her hair. "Will I be arrested...?"

"No, of course not," Aoko said quickly, reaching over and putting a hand on the other girl's. "I was in the arena the whole time with Conan-kun. Akako joined us later."

"I was late in arriving, and went straight to the arena to ask Nakamori-san a question," Akako said simply.

"I was in the lockers getting changed myself, and then I was in the match, like Junko-san," Ran offered.

Everyone slowly turned to Kaito, the teen shrugging with practiced ease. "I was in the bathroom for a while, for obvious reasons," he said simply, pointing to his still damp clothes. "Once I was remotely presentable I went to the concession stand to get snacks for Aoko and tantei-kun." Kudo twitched at the nickname, giving Kaito a pleasant internal grin in a grim situation.

Then things went downhill.

"I didn't see you at the concession stand," Katanaka-sensei said, frowning.

"It was pretty crowded," Kaito offered quickly and easily. "I didn't see you either."

"No it wasn't," Katanaka-sensei replied. "Everyone and their brother was in the arena to see the matches, the clerks were relieved that the rush had died down. There couldn't have been more than a dozen people there."

_... Oh shit_.

Ran spoke up after a glance from Conan. "What time did you go to the concession stand?" she asked. Kaito marveled at how she knew what to ask after just a look - and since when did she put that kind of faith in "Conan" anyway? Er, think on that later, thief boy, pull the ass out of the fire, first.

"I wasn't exactly looking at my watch," Kaito said slowly, screwing up his face in supposed thought. "I did hear cheering, I guess the matches must have just started?"

"Oh, well all right then," Katanaka-sensei said in obvious relief. "I went about halfway through; of course we wouldn't have seen each other."

"Ne, ne," Conan interjected, and Kaito felt his gut drop in dread, "Then why did it take so long for you to come find us? Aoko-nee-chan was really mad you were taking so long."

Kaito tried to shrug it off. "I don't know. I was still stewing, you know? Lost in my thoughts."

"I was too," Aoko said quickly in defense - making his heart do several warm flutters against his will. "I still can't believe he insulted his dad like that - to dare accuse Kuroba-tou-chan of suicide... it... it... it's unthinkable!!" The handkerchief in her hand was twisted violently, and Kaito saw Kudo's flat gaze of one who has been saturated with watching that kind of behavior in a short period of time.

"Most of us had a motive for killing Minagami-senpai," Akako said in quick, cool tones. "Kaito-kun for his aggressive assault on his character, Nakamori-san for the same. Minagami-san for his oppression of her, Katanaka-sensei for their fighting."

Conan's eyes narrowed again, and Kaito wondered what was going on in the teen turned toddler's head. The magician could see the information being processed, but Kaito had no idea what conclusions were being drawn and, rather like a spectator in a show, he was more than a little anxious for the result - especially since he wanted to be on firmer ground than with his shaky alibi.

"You fought?" Ran prompted after another glance from Conan. Seriously, what was up with those two?

"I don't know if fighting is the right word," Katanaka offered, adjusting her blue shawl, throwing a dark look to Akako. "I've known the Minagami family for years now, and I've always been very supportive of both children. I'm always trying to get Junko-kun to assert herself, and I'm - I mean was - always trying to get Kakeru-kun to be more sensitive."

"That was not how I heard it," Akako said softly, locking a meaningful glare at Kaito. "I believe the quote was, 'If you keep going down this path, it will surely lead to your destruction.'"

"You overheard that?" Katanaka asked in honest surprise. At everyone's expectant looks, she shrugged. "What?" she asked, tone defensive. "He was being pig-headed. I was trying to get through to him."

"Ne, ne," Conan piped up, his shiny boy face back on. "What was he being cow-headed about?"

The mistake caused a relief-giving chuckle around the table, and Kaito marveled at Kudo's ploy. The kid was a natural when he put his mind to it; not only had he broken the rising tension in the room, but he'd also drawn attention away from the fact that he was questioning all the suspects. That was _good_. Kaito was beginning to enjoy the show.

"That's the wrong farm animal," Katanaka - ever the sensei - offered. "The phrase is pig-headed. It means being stubborn and inflexible. He was--"

"Ah, here you are."

All seven people in the room swiveled around to see Hoshizuki, the detective in charge, march into the room with an extremely self-satisfied look on his face.

"Did you find anything?" Kudo asked. Hoshizuki ignored him outright, and Ran had to repeat the question.

"We found the bullet casing," he said smugly. "Along with several bird feathers."

Junko, silent up until then, snapped to attention. "The Magic Bullet."

Kaito went stock-still.

The slight girl turned a tear-streaked face to Kaito. "You had a bullet for your magic trick," she accused, visibly shaking. "You brought it to class to work on it and we were all scared it would go off!"

"Now wait, Jun--"Aoko started.

"_You killed Nii-san!!_" she shrieked, leaping out of her seat and lunging over the table. Katanaka tried to grab her, Aoko trying to shove him aside, and Ran trying to intercede. In the jumble of motion, Kaito exercised his now overpowering need to Run the Hell Away and used a smoke capsule to misdirect everyone and trans-locate to the door of the conference room, even then backing up several steps as Junko broke from everyone's grip and launched forward, murder in her eyes. Kaito was ready to flip away and behind a cop when, to everyone but Kaito's surprise, Conan appeared and deliberately stepped between the two, letting himself act as a tripping agent as he tugged and pulled at the legs that almost kicked him aside, making the girl tumble to the floor just long enough for Ran to leap on top of her and grab her hands, pinning her down.

Hoshizuki, pale but still carrying an air of self-importance, stepped over the struggle and looked down his nose at Kaito.

"Do you know what she means by Magic Bullet?" he asked calmly.

"........... Yes." Kaito didn't want to admit it, but he didn't want to lie either as he realized where this was going. The Run the Hell Away reflex was still spiking in his head, pounding his heart, and pumping in his ears, but he violently pushed the instinct down; knowing that running away would be the Worst Thing he could do.

"Do you own any birds?"

That response took even longer to churn out. "............. I'm a magician. I own a lot of doves."

An oily smile. "Then I'm placing you under arrest for the murder of Minagami Kakeru."

Aoko blanched. "You can't be serious!! He wouldn't!!"

"I didn't," Kaito added calmly, his Poker Face the only thing keeping him from abject panic as he realized the true meaning of Akako's predictions. He wasn't caught, not as Kaitou Kid, but he was, in fact, being arrested.

"Screw Megure!" Aoko was shouting, pulling out a cell phone. "I'm calling Hakuba!! Damn it! There's no evidence! It could be any bird's feathers! Kaito stopped working on the Magic Bullet trick. This is so goddamn _stupid_!"

"Then how do you explain this?" Hoshizuki asked, lifting up an evidence bag with an index card inside. "This is Kuroba's handwriting, is it not?"

Aoko paused in her pounding of cell phone keys and gave a teary glare to the detective before focusing in on the index card.

_If you're really so desperate to have it out; meet me in the utility closet by the lockers during the match._

_I'll duck to your hearts content._

_Kaito :P_

"It's not my handwriting," Kaito offered, but by this point he knew it was useless. Aoko could only growl and started shouting in her phone.

Conan watched the display with eyes deep in thought.

**

* * *

Author's Notes**: And thus, the investigation gets started. Clues are being dropped, Conan's zeroing in on everything, Kaito doesn't quite get that Ran knows about Shinichi, and we have an idiot in charge. Things are going just swell, aren't they? ^__^

So many people making guesses and we have to keep our mouthes shut. *sigh* We really want to comment, but we must remain tight-lipped.

However, a lot of you are looking at Junko. While she clearly has reason, there's something that some of you seem to be missing. A few of you have commented that Katanaka-sensei doesn't know about the Magic Bullet that Kaito had in the classroom. We disagree. A teacher knows what's going on in their classroom and when Katanaka-sensei walks in to the kids all riled up about Kaito and his magic bullet, she'll just have to listen to the chatter for maybe ten seconds before she knows what had just happened. Students are great sources of information for a teacher if a teacher just sits back and listens. We should know, we're both math teachers.

Anyway.

Several of you have commented how the fact that this is co-written is amazing to you. Well, it's rather natural to us. If you haven't really read or profile or aren't familiar with us from our home-series of Yoroiden Samurai Troopers/Ronin Warriors, you probably don't know that the two of us are twins. We've been writing together since the mid-90s. (We feel OLD!) The process is a very familiar one by now. After fangirling over a series (such as Meitantei Conan), we've discussed the main characters to death, providing us with a good feel of motivations, thought processes, and overall _feel_ of them. It's when one of us starts getting an idea of something that stories start getting born. We'll start with a basic concept and try to hammer out some details. Each of us working independently to come up with basic scene ideas and overall concepts. Then we sit down on the couch with a pencil and pad of paper to start listing things, fitting things together, reworking or completely throwing out things. From there, a basic timeline/outline is made and we start claiming scenes. (It can be a blood bath if we both want to write a particular part.... Like when Conan-kun was bleeding into a bucket... Or... well, we haven't started posting that yet....) We're always reading and rereading the story, and tweaking where necessary. Then we send it off to our wonderful beta Anna-san (who rocks!) and get the final red-pen treatment. Frankly, we can't imagine how people do it anonymously online, emailing and chatting. So much of what we do is discussion.

We hope that clarifies a few things. Now excuse us, our students need to be schooled in how to pay attention in a math class.

Next time: Investigating, evidence, and misdirection. Poor Kaito. It won't be a good chapter for him.

See you in two weeks!


	7. Chapter 7

**Part Seven**

Ran held Conan close, using the excuse of seeing if he was hurt after nimbly tripping the Minagami sister. To a small degree, that was true, with the revelation that Conan was really a shrunken Shinichi, Ran couldn't help but notice even more the number of times he was tossed around, half the time due to his deliberate actions, half the time because adults didn't seem to care as long as they got him out of the way. But the main reason for holding Conan close in her lap as accusations swirled around them was to find out if there was something she needed to do.

"Conan-kun?"

"This smells of a set-up, Ran," he whispered as he crossed his arms. "A magician wouldn't be so careless; it would ruin any magic trick they perform. I'd be more suspicious of him if there was no evidence."

"Is there some way to prove he didn't do it?" she asked. She also doubted that Kaito had killed Minagami, but she knew the reason for her doubt lay entirely on his near identical appearance to Shinichi. Nor did she want Aoko, whom Ran had grown fond of, to be hurt by such a dear friend being guilty. "Maybe by how the evidence was placed, or the murder weapon, or..."

Conan looked up, his face slack as Ran watched information being processed faster than she could imagine across his eyes before his face took a determined, then playful look as he hopped off her lap.

"Thanks," he whispered before winding around to where the horrid detective Hoshizuki was trying to calm the shouting match occurring between Aoko ("He's an idiot, but he didn't do it!"), Akako ("Should you not be looking at all the others whom Minagami-senpai has wronged?"), Junko ("How could you do it?"), and Katanaka ("Settle down, all of you!") Oddly, Kaito wasn't shouting his innocence. He appeared to be in a stunned silence, like he couldn't believe it was happening, or like he was an audience member who had just seen a plot twist occur that no one had been expecting.

Hoshizuki seemed intent on putting them all in handcuffs for disrupting an investigation and Ran thought for sure that Conan would try and get the detective's attention to point something out. Instead, the mini detective snuck up behind Kaito.

The magician glanced at the child and gave a strained smile. Conan smiled back, almost apologetically and Kaito tensed before, to Ran's surprise, Conan jumped up and tried to hang from Kaito's wrist.

To everyone else's surprise, Kaito let out a loud cry of pain as he quickly leaned over to get Conan on the ground and off his arm.

"Conan-kun!" Ran yelled in reprimand. She hurried over and grabbed the child's arm, pulling him away, a scolding building up automatically before she saw an immensely satisfied look spread across Shinichi's smaller face.

"Tantei-kun! What the hell?" Kaito yelled, gingerly trying to massage his wrist.

"Conan-kun," Aoko also had a reprimand in her voice as all attention focused on the small detective.

"Aww," Conan let out a childish whine.

"Kaito twisted his wrists earlier this week," Aoko yelled, "and he's been avoiding using them to help them heal. Who knows what damage--"

Kaito however, had sharpened his eyes, staring at Conan for half a second so intensely, Ran felt chills go up her spine. Kneeling down, she reached to pull Conan close, almost on instinct, but the child didn't see it as he rounded his own sharp eyes to Hoshizuki.

"But he has to have strong wrists if he's the murderer!" he said plainly. "I've watched videos of welders on this show about building cars and bulldozers and stuff, and welders need strong, steady hands!"

"So?" the detective said coldly.

Kaito groaned, Aoko was still fuming at Conan, Akako smiled, and Katanaka held Junko's crying form close. Ran saw where Conan's thought was going.

"Detective," Ran said patiently, "that murder weapon had to be welded in place to fire properly."

Hoshizuki looked at them all dumbly.

"In other words," Ran continued, "Kaito-san _couldn't_ have done it because he's in no physical shape to weld anything."

"Ha!" Aoko yelled. "Now let him go!"

The detective blinked before scowling. "He's a material witness! I need to question him!"

Conan gave an oh-so-innocent blink and asked, "Does that mean we're all under arrest as mat-eye-ral witnesses?"

"No!" Hoshizuki shouted, looking flustered. "It means... That is... You wouldn't understand, you brat!"

"Hey," Katanaka interjected, "That's no way to treat a child."

Conan looked up, all wide-eyed and innocent as he clutched at Kaito's pant-leg. "But I don't wanna be arrested! I didn't do anything wrong and neither did Kaito-nii-chan!"

Ran realized, not for the first time, why Shinichi had lasted so long hiding as Edogawa Conan. His acting skills, when he focused on them, were just as good as his mother's. His only mistakes were when he was caught unaware.

Growing up and almost living in each other's houses had exposed both of them to the eccentricities of both families. (Although Shinichi's family had more eccentricity packed in one little finger than either of Ran's parents, but everyone was entitled to oddities, weren't they? Shinichi's parents were just more odd than most.) Yukiko was proud of her work as an actress before she turned housewife, and if given the opportunity, she would sit both Shinichi and Ran down in front of the family's home theater to watch her movies. Anything from where she was the leading lady all the way down to a bit part that she played. Each showed Yukiko's incredible skill at getting in character, to say nothing of the occasional costume party that gave Shinichi's mother a part to play and Ran was always awed by how deeply the actress fell into her role.

But Shinichi had never shown any interest in such things growing up. If anything, he seemed more annoyed at whatever incursion to his life they played. Perhaps he had learned through osmosis, unknowingly letting his mother's proficiency soak into him. Or maybe it was yet another innate skill that he just excelled in, like how he excelled in almost everything he tried, singing aside. Ran remembered a handful of occasions where Yukiko had rather forcibly tried to teach them the fine art of acting and Shinichi had deliberately done poorly just to get them out of there and onto more interesting things.

Yet, with the focus that he was currently putting into thouroughly playing the part of Conan, a little child, there was no doubt that he was doing an excellent job. Hoshizuki growled and said nothing, his only real response being a loud grinding of teeth.

"Then.... Then...." Junko, still in the protective arms of Katanaka, stuttered, "Then if Kuroba-kun.... didn't do it..... then who killed onii-san?" she shuddered. "W... Why?"

"No one else from our school appears to be here," Akako commented. "Perhaps a search of our persons for clues?"

"And," Hoshizuki snarled, "what, pray tell, would you suggest we find if we searched all of you? No murderer would keep incriminating evidence on their person."

Ran sighed quietly and saw Conan roll his eyes.

"Detective," she replied, "you'll find that many murderers keep evidence on them so that it won't be discovered or with the intent on dumping it later in a place they're certain no one will find."

"Rule number one for my dad," Aoko nodded. "Never underestimate the stupidity of man. He'll always outsmart himself."

"I have nothing to hide," Kaito nodded emphatically.

"Nor I," agreed Katanaka. She put her purse down on the table and stepped back. "Go ahead, officer."

Hoshizuki growled something unpleasant, but did as told.

* * *

Conan frowned. It would be one thing if he had suggested the search. He had been planning it after he checked a few things first, but the black-clad Koizumi girl had suggested it and in doing so, the remote was hijacked and the volume set up to full, making him highly suspicious. The fortuneteller did nothing but send chills down his spine and he _tried_ to rationalize it as his paranoia with anyone who wore so much black, but that didn't stop him from automatically mistrusting anything she said.

Not only that, there was a cryptic comment she'd made earlier to Kuroba. "_Now I will have to fix your grave error_." What was that supposed to mean? The conversation had implied that she knew this was coming. But as tempting as it was for him to just rationalize that as proof that she was the murderer, it _didn't_ equate to proof. But her suggesting the search meant that she thought it would do some good, implying that she knew who the murder was, or she knew that evidence to clear Kuroba would be found.

Speaking of Kuroba, the magician had glanced over at Koizumi and Conan could _feel_ the guard rising as Kuroba raised an eyebrow at the fortuneteller. He didn't trust her any more than Conan. Why? She and Nakamori's daughter seemed like friends, so what was there to make Kuroba keep his guard up?

"I'll go first," Kuroba stepped forward. "Have an officer search me, but let me pull out the doves first. I don't want you injuring any of them."

Hoshizuki scowled, but Conan had already figured out what _his_ problem was. Conan would have to deal with that later, once this case was solved, but he had other things to focus on first.

With a flourish, the magician made three doves appear. One of them flew to Aoko, resting on her shoulder, another did the same to Ran, and a third hovered above Kuroba for a moment before gently landing on Conan's shoulder, much to his surprise.

Still, better to point things out now. "Wow, Kaito-nii-chan!' Conan offered with a voice of wonder. "None of your birds lost any feathers!"

Kuroba smiled down to him. "Of course not, tantei-kun. Birds don't just drop feathers at the slightest ruffle; they'd be naked in no time if that occurred. Doves will molt in warm months, and last I checked, the weather is freezing outside. And I don't pluck my birds, so they'd have no reason to re-grow feathers at this time of year."

Interesting little fact, easily verified with any veterinarian, so Conan took that as true. "But, then, how'd those feathers get in the crime scene?"

"No idea," was the frank reply.

More support to Conan's suspicion of a frame up.

Hoshizuki was scowling horribly at his loss of control of the investigation, but motioned for an officer to frisk Kuroba down. This, actually, proved to be quite entertaining, as several magical tools were pulled out onto the desk, some of them Kuroba had to helpfully point out when the officer missed them. With scarves of all colors, four decks of cards, rings, hidden pockets aplenty, and various paraphernalia heaped onto the large conference desk, Conan allowed himself a whistle of being impressed. Something nagged at his mind however, and sent him crawling along the floor. He scoured the carpet, especially by the chairs until he found what he was looking for. The smoke pellet Kuroba had used to translocate himself across the room and unsuccessfully out of the enraged Junko's grasp. Something about it was pulling at his thoughts, something familiar. With a small frustrated sigh, the truncated detective wrapped it in a handkerchief and put it in a pocket for later. The dove cooed in his ear and nipped almost affectionately at his hair.

"Are you _sure_ you've shown us everything?" Hoshizuki demanded with clear irritation.

Kuroba gave an unrepentant grin. "Do you want me to strip?"

Aoko swatted his head. "_Will_ you save your jerk-ness for a more appropriate time?"

The unrepentant smile turned and upped itself in wattage. "Oh? When do you have in mind, Aoko? I could be even _more_ of a jerk if I just knew _when_ I was supposed to be one."

"You idiot."

Conan watched as Aoko walked forward and emptied her pockets.

"It's working," Ran whispered by his ear, causing Conan to ever-so-slightly startle. The dove on his shoulder rustled before flapping up to his head.

"What is?" he asked, wondering what he had missed that Ran saw.

"Kaito-san is trying to relax Aoko-san. She's been very upset since she saw the body and with him being what is apparently his usual self, she's calming down."

"Hn," Conan offered. Ran's dove nipped at her hair.

Aoko's possessions revealed nothing, like Conan knew they would, as did Ran.

He clambered up to stand on a chair to get a better look as Akako emptied her possessions onto the table. There was something smooth and confident with every move she made that made Conan even more nervous and suspicious of her. There was nothing of interest, however, other than usual fortune-telling charms and cards.

As much as it irked him to do so, Conan decided it was time to be cute. "Hey, is it my turn? I wanna be searched!"

Hoshizuki rolled his eyes. "Sit down, kid. I'm handling this. I doubt you'd have anything."

This was what Conan had expected. This guy was a piss-poor detective and it just lent credence to his deduction about the policeman. Never mind that a suspect could slip something onto a child, or a child might pick up something interesting that might be useful. Megure wouldn't make that sort of mistake, and Conan was unsurprised, if still disappointed.

Junko gave a wan smile, squeezed Katanaka's arm a little more tightly before stepping forward, taking her bag from an officer who had brought it up from the locker room. She upended it, letting all the contents fall onto the table, and sifted through them. A change of clothes, the remains of what looked like a snack, various tidbits that always got buried in such bags, etc. Conan lunged forward when he saw something and snatched it out of the girl's hand. "Oh, I know what this is! It's a receipt!" He looked at it and silently sucked in a breath. "Ran, I can't read the kanji, what's this say?"

"Let me see, Conan-kun." She took the small slip of paper and read it out. "This is a receipt from Zamachi Hardware," she read quietly, "for a length of pipe, string, a small spring, a pin of some kind, and some miscellaneous things."

"Oh, oh! That sounds like the murder weapon!" Conan chirped brightly, looking intently at the girl as her face paled.

"B-but..." she stammered, "b-but.... How...?"

"Don't worry," Katanaka said, patting her student's shoulder, "I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

Though Junko's face was already red from crying, Conan noted that it seemed to get even brighter.

"Okay, my turn," the teacher said, also upending her bag. But she, too, paled, when bits of piping exactly the same as the mock-up murder weapon spilled out along with tampons, make-up, wallet, and string.

Conan offered an energetic, "Cool!" before pulling out a magnifying glass to inspect the suspicious items more closely. He slid across the table on his stomach and propped himself up with his elbows to properly inspect the items, slowly leaning forward for a closer look.

He was rather surprised, however, when a hand grabbed the collar of his coat and pulled him back.

"Awp!"

"You little _brat_, this is a police investigation; _not_ a playground!" Hoshizuki growled to his face.

Conan gave an inward sigh before shouting petulantly, "You big meanie! You're just a bully!"

The policeman said nothing in response, instead just letting go and letting the minimized detective drop to the ground. Not that he fell that far, as Kuroba caught him with his good arm.

"Tisk, tisk," the magician said, setting Conan down a lot more gently, "Methinks the detective bosses too much."

"Kaito," Aoko growled, "now is _not_ a good time to go around antagonizing authority figures."

"Awww, but Aoko, I'm so _good_ at it!"

Aoko pulled his ear.

"Awp! Okay, okay!"

Conan and Ran both looked over to Kuroba, who had unintentionally made the same exact sound that the shrunken Shinichi had made mere moments before.

_Creepy_.

Speaking of creepy, Conan rounded his eyes over to the black-clad Koizumi. The fortune-teller was looking around with a serene, satisfied smile that cinched it in Conan's mind. Between her comment about fixing errors, to her taking her seat at the table the long way, going by both Katanaka and the Minagami sister, to her mysterious and questionable behavior overall. Conan was certain that she was planting evidence to bounce suspicion off Kuroba. But in doing so, she was muddling things for him. With all this false evidence floating around, be it pointing to Kuroba with bird feathers and most-likely forged notes or piping and receipts popping up with others who had quarreled with the deceased, it was getting difficult to discern who the _true_ murder was.

"Katanaka-sensei couldn't have done it!" Junko cried out. "She's too nice, too kind, too gentle, too..." she cut off, burying her face in her hands. "This doesn't make _any_ sense! Onii-san..."

"There, there," Katanaka said softly, putting an arm around her student again.

Hoshizuki, however, was glancing around the room at everyone. "Wait a minute, all this evidence conveniently appearing to put suspicion on people other that Kuroba..."

Conan looked up. Had the inept idiot figured it out? Maybe there was hope for him after all.

"Then Kuroba is the only one who could plant it, because he's a magician and that's what magician's do."

Conan's head fell. _Never mind_.

* * *

Aoko couldn't believe her eyes. Ignoring the advice of being calm and respectful that she'd been pounding into Kaito since this whole farce began, she shouted, "You _jackass_!!" She took a step forward, cusses and profanity starting to pour from her mouth as the unfairness of everything took hold of her without letting go. Up until that point, she had been trying to forget the bloody image of Minagami Kakeru lying on the floor, some part of her still trying to absorb the fact that someone she knew would never be coming back, that _Kaito_ of all people was standing accused. She'd called Hakuba because of the impossibility of it all, had been sending him text messages as things occurred to keep him up to date, especially as things were finally going Kaito's way.

And now this piss-poor detective that her father would have laid flat on the carpet hours ago, was saying that all the evidence that proved Kaito's innocence was really proving his guilt. It was just... just... there wasn't even a word for it! And Aoko knew a _lot_ of words for such an occasion.

She was well beyond denial that this was happening. She was in full on rage. _And where was her mop when she needed it_? Hoshizuki seemed to squirm under her oncoming wrath and actually took a step back before straightening his back and standing firm.

All the easier to pommel him.

"Wow! I never heard of all those words! What do they all mean?" said a voice down by her hip.

Aoko glanced down and saw Conan. He was seeing her at her worst again. And a child shouldn't see what she wanted to do and shouldn't hear what she was saying. She ought to know, since she knew growing up that she wasn't supposed to hear all the words that her father often used.

It took a great deal of strain and effort to reign in her temper. Her blood was boiling and she needed something to _do_ instead of just standing around here doing nothing as Kaito continued to be accused of everything wrong.

She didn't reply to Conan's innocent question. She merely took deep breath after deep breath, trying to cool the righteous fire that was coursing through her veins. She needed to _do_ something. Kaito was one of the few people left that was truly important to her; she couldn't just let him disappear! Like her father always did. Like her mother had done. Like Kuroba Toichi had. Too many of the people she saw as family were gone, willingly or not. Kaito was, in many ways, all she had left. If her house ever overpowered her with silence, she knew that Kaito's would be full of sound and energy. If Kaito was gone, there'd be nothing left.

Aoko pulled out her phone to give Hakuba the latest infuriating development, but couldn't focus enough to compose the message. She was just... just... too full of feeling. She was feeling so much so intensely and all at once, that she couldn't even _do_ anything like she needed to.

People were talking around her, but she couldn't hear them as her own private hell surrounded her. She was going to lose Kaito. She was going to be alone. Her father would most likely bury himself in the case to try and prove Kaito's innocence, but at this rate it was a lost cause. Hakuba would as well. And all Aoko would have left would be a cold empty house.

It just wasn't _fair_.

Someone sat her down in one of the conference chairs, then wrapped their arms around her, stroking her hair. Aoko blinked, the contact bringing her aching heart back to the real world and saw her new friend Ran looking down at her with compassion and understanding.

Almost like a mother, really.

And Aoko hadn't had a mother in a _really_ long time. Reaching out herself, she wrapped her arms around the karate champion and just let her feelings overwhelm her. A hand held her shoulder firmly, and she knew that Kaito was also offering his own support.

In the background, she could hear Conan talking, Hoshizuki yelling, Junko crying, officers exiting and entering the room with information. Aoko ignored them all. For now, all she could do was feel.

**

* * *

Author's Notes**: Ehehehe. Lots of evidence going round and none of it pertinent. Bad Akako. Bad. No Kaito for you. ^_^ And the investigation goes on.

Next time: A scene with Hakuba, Akako still trying to "improve" things for Kaito, and Conan figuring out the murderer.


	8. Chapter 8

**Part Eight**

To be clear: Hakuba was furious.

To be even clearer: Hakuba was furious _at Kuroba_.

That he _dared_ to _allow_ himself to be arrested; that the clever idiot magician even _considered_ being prime suspect in a _murder_ investigation; that he _let himself be caught_ by someone _other_ than Hakuba himself, well. There would be hell to pay.

Hakuba seethed as he stood, crammed in the subway, glaring daggers at anyone who thought to catch his eyes, a vein pulsing under his blond bangs in rhythm to the dark thoughts riddling through his mind. Bad enough that there was a murder; bad enough that it was a student from their school; bad enough that Aoko-kun had played witness to such an atrocity, but the very idea that Kuroba was even _considered_ a suspect was somewhere between laughable and reprehensible.

The _nerve_! He couldn't understand, couldn't conceive, as to why Kuroba would play along with such a sham of an investigation. He need only prove his innocence and be done with it; that he didn't seem to think anything of being suspected let alone arrested was unfathomable. Surely, _surely_ he wasn't so arrogant in his abilities to escape the police that he thought nothing of being arrested. Surely he understood how serious this was and wasn't treating it as some kind of hilarious joke. Even Kuroba wasn't that stupid.

If he thought about it, though, really thought about it, he was more scared than angry. Murder was a serious offense, and if he ever dared to admit that he admired and respected Kuroba enough to consider him a friend, then the idea of someone that close to him being hauled off to lock up for something he so _clearly_ didn't do was insulting; not only to Kuroba, but also to law enforcement in general. No, the only place he was to be arrested was on the heist, when planning, intuition, and deductive prowess did battle over luck and spontaneity. The only one who could do that, the only one capable of that, was Hakuba himself. Anything less than that was unacceptable.

Because then what was all his hard work for?

Frowning, Hakuba shook himself out of his thoughts as Aoko sent him another text. Pulling out his phone, he read a carefully composed message explaining that the detective in charge currently felt that the evidence proving his innocence (and subsequently throwing suspicion) was planted by Kuroba himself and further proved his guilt.

The vein pulsed under his bangs again, and Hakuba allowed himself the luxury of a growl.

If that detective dared to think he was worth anything, Hakuba was more than going to change his mind.

Aoko was another concern as well. She was a nice girl, good natured and kind enough to take him under her wing, as it were, when he was new to the school. She even tried (with notable effort) to ebb the magnanimous animosity between him and Kuroba; truly, she was a pure heart - a rare find in this day and age. The thought of her subjected to a murder investigation was atrocious - to be the one to find the body was horrifying. Her phone call was filled with anger and petulance at Kuroba's impending arrest, but Hakuba had also heard the broken tones of a girl whose innocence was ripped away from her, and he despised that this had happened to her. He owed it to her, at the very least, to try and ease the pain she was no doubt feeling. Aoko was a girl that pinned her heart to her sleeve, and Hakuba would be damned if he let anything hurt that heart.

She deserved better than that. She deserved better than Kuroba running off and causing her more anguish as he played at being Kaitou Kid.

Frowning again, Hakuba blinked as the thought fully processed in his head. Since when had he thought like that - referencing her with Kid instead of Kuroba? It was a new insight to the game Kaito was playing; not only was he making a mockery of Nakamori and the entire task force (to say nothing of _himself,_ but that was a different story), but he was also playing with the gentle emotions of Aoko, and Hakuba discovered yet another reason to chafe at Kaitou Kid and his self-important quest for glory, attention and adrenaline.

This false arrest would cause Aoko even more upset, and Hakuba would be twice damned if he let Kuroba put her through _that_ on top of everything else he put her through.

Besides, he was supposed to be caught on a heist - it was the only appropriate arena for him to be silenced, with Hakuba standing over him and swinging that damnable monocle out of the thief's reach, of course. Any other venue would be cheating and besides, Kaitou Kid was above murder.

No, Hakuba would fix this. He had to.

He gripped the pole in the subway with a tighter fist.

* * *

Akako kept quiet as she eyed the boy. She wished she had her crystal ball so that she could contact Lucifer and gain some guidance. He hadn't exactly been clear when he foreordained Kaito's arrest; only that it would happen and that danger would be following him. She had kept a close eye on him when she'd arrived, and she'd seen that the boy was constantly by Kaito's side. His "interview" before Hoshizuki had arrived to arrest Kaito had only led to doubt in Kaito's alibi. Further exploits the boy committed would start to prove Kaito's innocence, but in the end would only make things worse. She doubted the boy was even aware of the bad luck that seemed to be surrounding him this night, but Akako had no intention of letting such a thing continue; no, she'd yet to enslave Kaito to her will, and until then no one was allowed to touch him.

And so, she decided to take action.

* * *

"Kaito-nii-chan?"

The magician turned from his text on Aoko's phone to Hakuba and looked down at the shrunken detective. His voice was boyish, but his face was anything but, a look of sympathy impossible for someone his age was set on his features. "I know you're busy, but could I talk to you for a second?"

Any other ankle-biter would get a resounding, "Get lost," but Kaito knew better than anyone in the room that if they wanted the headache to go away, Conan needed to be allowed a few favors. Glancing at Ran and mentally hoping she would be enough, he pulled away from Aoko slowly and followed the teen turned toddler.

Out in the hall, there was no Hoshizuki the Dim to evil-eye him, and Kaito took yet another moment to realize what Deep Shit he was in. Oh, he'd always toyed with the idea of getting arrested, half-baked ideas of how to get out and blue prints on various holding cells and precincts in Jii's back room to study whenever he got truly worried, but it was always The Backup, when nothing else worked. He'd never considered it as Plan A, because he never really seriously thought he'd be arrested; he was too good at what he did, too careful, too meticulous. He'd never even _considered_ the thought of Kuroba Kaito being arrested, not Kaitou Kid.

Had he been taking Lady Luck too much for granted? Bad enough he took advantage of Aoko, but now one of his goddesses? He promised to pay more homage on his next heist.

Assuming he ever got out of this.

Frowning, Kaito decided to take the initiative. "You already know that I'm innocent," he said in bleak tones to Conan.

The boy blinked, his face not quite surprised but not quite expecting the statement but, to Kaito's benefit, they stopped being so rounded and innocent, returning to Kudo's eyes. "Ah," he said simply.

"Then how can I help you prove it to that guy?" Kaito asked, jamming his thumb in the direction of the conference room and the authority figure inside.

"That won't be a problem," Conan replied, rubbing his chin in thought. "It's proving who did do it that I need to confirm a few things."

Kaito perked. "Wait, you know who did it?"

The faux child gave Kaito a very measured look, clearly deciding on how much he could or should say. The teen magician couldn't fault his peer. If the situations were reversed he's want to hold his hand close to his chest, too; that's why Lady Luck invented the Poker Face and taught it to his father.

"It's hard to say for sure," Conan said finally. "There's a lot of planted evidence."

"All that stuff from the searches," Kaito replied.

Kaito crouched down, unsure what to do with himself and unsure what Kudo needed from him.

"That girl, Koizumi, what's she like?"

The magician blinked, not expecting that question. "She's a magician, but not like me. She has this deity that she prays to and gives her power. She makes love charms and stickers and chants spells and bounces around in weird outfits."

"And her connection to you?"

"She's pissed that I won't fawn over her like the other boys at school," Kaito replied in neutral tones. He couldn't exactly give the exact nature of their relationship. That was why secret identities were secret.

"Why did she say you made a 'grave error'?"

Damn. He'd heard that. Kaito rocked on his feet a little bit, angling his crouch into more difficult positions to test his balance as well as pulling out a coin - the only thing he had left - and doing small hand magic with it as he mulled over what he could and couldn't say. "She was at my house a little over a week ago proclaiming that if I came here I'd be arrested. Guess that was true, but hindsight is twenty-twenty, after all."

Kudo was shifting his weight from one foot to the other, legs swinging up and around like he was kicking an imaginary soccer ball; he'd long stopped rubbing his chin and had stuffed his hands into his pockets. Kaito wondered what he was thinking about.

"Katanaka-sensei?"

"What about her?"

"How close is she to those two?"

The magician shrugged his shoulders again. "I don't know. I didn't even know she knew them all that well until this year when Junko-chan and Aoko and I were in the same class. She was always trotting after sensei like a puppy; which is understandable, I guess, given that she's--"

"I've had enough of this!" a woman's voice erupted from inside the conference room. Storming out came the very people they were just discussing: Katanaka in her blue shawl, and Junko, red-faced and upset as she ran her hands over her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears. "Easy, Junko-kun, it's okay," Katanaka was saying. She stole a glance at Kaito and Conan and focused her gaze on the teenager who looked like a teenager. "Kaito-kun, for what it's worth, I'm sorry this is happening to you, to us, all of us."

"... Thanks," Kaito replied slowly, offering a neutral smile. For all he knew, she was the murderer trying to frame him. "Hope this clears up soon!" he added in a brighter voice in hopes of sounding like himself.

Imagine his surprise then, when he turned back and saw Conan staring wide eyed - not child eyed - after the two women, intelligence and thought radiating off of him as they continued to walk down the hall. Kaito knew that look very well. He'd seen it enough times when stalking the mini sleuth when he was on a case; it was the look of complete comprehension. A cock-sure grin ghosted over the seeming seven year old's features, a tweak at the corners of his mouth that signaled the immediate instinct for Kaito to Run the Hell Away. Only, it wasn't directed _at_ Kaito, but at whatever was going on in his peer's head.

... And since when did he start thinking of Kudo as a peer?

"That solves one mystery," Conan said under his breath, bringing a hand up to rub his chin again in thought. "That only leaves one left..." And he turned his probing eyes to one coin-flipping magician, and Kaito literally _felt_ himself get scared.

"I've been wondering a few things about you," tantei-kun said slowly, sounding more and more like his teenage self. There was nothing boyish about him now, all his masks were forgotten as he trained himself on Kaito. "There are some discrepancies in your testimony that I'd like to clear up."

Oh, _shit_ here it comes.

"First: why were you so late in meeting Aoko-san," Conan held up a finger. "Second," another finger pulled out, "How did you know where the changing rooms for Ran and Minagami were and why did you insist on leading us there? Third," another finger, "Why did you feel the need to remove your jacket and shirt both to clean them when the stains were only over your abdomen? Fourth," Another finger sprung into the air, and Kaito had long since felt a trickle of sweat run down the side of his head. His coin was balanced on the nail of his thumb, ready to be flipped but forgotten about. "Why did you lie about where you were during the tournament? Fifth..."

Kaito was about ready to leave the country at this point, pack Aoko in a bag and just disappear - he was _screwed_ and he knew it; even if he tried to deny the allegations, he knew Kudo well enough to know that it was futile, that there'd be three or four pieces of evidence to confirm whatever conclusion or question Kudo was about to ask. Lady Luck truly had abandoned him that night, not only setting him up for murder but also now leaving him high and dry with the _one_ person who could find out his masked identity based only on the thinnest threads of nothing. Dead, done and buried, Kaito could only wait for... wait for... for...

Conan frowned, his own brow sweating as he started to sway. "Fifth..." he repeated, but the word was drawn out, almost drunken sounding.

"... Tantei-kun?" Kaito asked, confused as to what was happening.

A tiny hand rose to his head, Kudo's eyes glazing over as he swayed more visibly.

"Oi, K-onan-kun, what happened?" Kaito pressed, waving a hand in front of the boy. Unpredictable as he was, he'd never seen Kudo do this, it was like...

Kaito went ramrod straight, jumping to his feet. Spinning around, he saw Akako standing at the door, her gaze heavy and lidded and completely focused on the shrimp. Suddenly furious, Kaito had to forcibly remind himself where he was as he marched back down the hall to the local Witch (with a capital B) and grabbed her arm, tugging her away from the door and ignoring the startled yelp she made as her concentration was broken. He continued to march clear to the elevator before stopping and spinning her around.

"Don't you _ever_ do that again," he said in low, intimidating tones.

Akako was completely unfazed. "Whatever do you mean?" she asked in an equally low voice, her tone almost coy.

"Your magic," Kaito clarified, though he knew he didn't need to. "Your sticker love is annoying but harmless, and you've helped me out on occasion. But never, _never_ interfere with the cops."

Akako's eyes hardened. "You made a grave error in coming here, in spite of my warnings; you've left me no choice but to clean up your mess."

Kaito's eyes hardened in turn. "It's _my_ mess, not yours. It's not your business to clean it it's mine, and I was doing just _fine_ until you messed things up even further than they already are."

"I'm _saving_ you!" she hissed. "All that evidence diverted suspicion and--"

The magician finally realized just how far the sorceress had gone. "No, no you're not," Kaito growled, his sapphire orbs flashing, unaware that he was dipping into his Kid voice. "Your planted evidence only confuses things, your accusations only raise tension, and that little stunt you just pulled with the kid was completely _unforgivable_." He couldn't _believe_ what was happening. Akako had always been weird, always a little obsessed, but he'd never imagined she would do something like this. What the hell was _wrong_ with her?

"Until you become my slave," Akako said, "_no one_ will arrest you."

Kaito, up until now hunched forward and trying to keep the conversation quiet and private, stood up to his full height. "If you really care about me that much," he said, "Then leave the squirt alone."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, _why_?" she demanded.

"Because he's the only one able to clear me." Kaito said with ultimate finality.

* * *

"... Fifth..." Finally, the fog cleared and Conan startled, sucking in a breath as he started to lose balance and had to work quickly to prevent himself from tipping over. Shaking the sudden inexplicable cobwebs from his head, he looked up to realize that Kuroba was nowhere to be found. What... what just happened?

The fake child padded forward, poking his head back into the conference room to find his little mystery. Ran was still holding Aoko while Hoshizuki was trying to talk to some officers. The teacher and girl had already left, but Conan knew _they_ would be back, and after what he'd seen when they left, he knew it would be a synch to catch the murderer. That only left Kuroba, the biggest mystery in this little montage, and Conan was trying to figure out what it was.

The love of his life saw him and offered a comforting smile.

Smiling back, he continued down the hall and around the corner to the elevator where he spied Kuroba talking to _her_, the one who always raised his hackles. Ducking back around the corner, Conan settled himself down to listen.

"Your magic," Kaito was saying in low dark tones. "Your sticker love is annoying but harmless, and you've helped me out on occasion. But never, _never_ interfere with the cops."

Conan blinked, uncertain what to make of the statement. He could think of no scenario where the witch could be of help to the magician, but then he hardly had all the facts yet, either, and so he tabled the question for later, listening to Koizumi heatedly defend herself. His deduction on her being the one to plant evidence was verified when she talked of evidence diverting suspicion. Then Kaito interceded.

"Your planted evidence only confuses things, your accusations only raise tension, and that little stunt you just pulled with the kid was completely _unforgivable_." And this made Conan blink, because what had she done to him? Unless, that wave of fogginess, the lack of focus... No, that was impossible; but could there be any other likely explanation? Conan was running through possible scenarios for that, not liking his deduction about her abilities when he realized something: Kaito was still playing with his coin. He'd been flipping it and fiddling with it when they had been talking earlier, something to keep his hands occupied, and likely a subconscious habit. As the teen flipped it from one finger to the next, disappearing and reappearing in his palms, Conan had a sudden flash of memory.

_"Do you know John Kerrich, who spent his time in a prison camp in Denmark during World War One just flipping a coin over and over?"_

Conan's eyes doubled in size, whipping back and accidentally slamming his back to the wall. No way, no way, _no way_. Kuroba was a lot of things, but not... but not...

He'd have no time, there was no way he could plan heists, watch Nakamori, stalk Cona--

_"Tell me, do you stalk Nakamori and that British guy as well? I can't imagine you have a lot of spare time for your real life."_

_ "Maybe they don't need to be stalked."_

Shinichi felt a drop of sweat slide down his forehead as his brain continued to make deduction after deduction. The reason Kuroba was late in arriving, the long delay in the bathroom - shirtless, the little inconsistencies here and there that plagued the teen detective suddenly fell so neatly into place it scared him how clear it all became. _No, no_, he told himself, _this deduction can't be verified, as much as it makes perfect sense there's no evi--_

Shinichi couldn't quite contain the gasp as he fumbled for his pockets, hands shaking as he dug through them, shoveling out his comb, pieces of lint, spare change, until he found his handkerchief and opened it up to examine the capsule, the smoke pellet that Kuroba had used to disappear when the girl had lunged at him, holding it in his palm and staring at it. Sodium bicarbonate and potassium chloride, stored in compartments instead of pressurized; exactly as what had been left in his house when Kaitou Kid had dropped him off after taking him from a hallucinating Ran's bedside during the epidemic case. He could prove it.

....... He could _prove_ it.

............ He could _prove_ Kuroba Kaito was the _Kaitou Kid_....

_"Or maybe I just like being unpredictable."_

Conan's head fell to his chest. "Damn it," he muttered.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Now the question is what Conan-kun is going to do with _that_ little revelation? Ehehehe, the things we could say.... but won't... ^_^ Hakuba is on his way and will arrive in the the last chapter (chapter 10). At least Conan-kun knows who the killer is, even if we don't.

Next time: Conan has just had something _really_ big fall into his lap and he needs to figure out what to do with it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Part Nine**

Aoko had receded from the world. Withdrawn into herself to get away from all the accusations, evidence, and frenzy. If she stayed in that place of chaos, she simply _knew_ she would do something that she'd regret, or make things worse, or _something_, because she was just going to react. Better to retreat and let things sort themselves out than have her confounding things further.

Ran was the only real contact she let herself feel with the outside world. The gentle rhythm of a hand stroking her hair, and the warm, maternal embrace was all she could really handle at the moment without completely blowing up. Because if things kept going the way they were going, Aoko was going to hit someone _hard_. Specifically, that piss-poor detective who didn't have a _clue_.

Just where the hell was Hakuba? She'd called him ages ago and had been sending regular texts to keep him apprised of what was going on so that when he arrived, the whole mess would be over with quickly. She knew he was at a conference, but surely it didn't take _that_ long to get his sorry ass down here, right? Aoko wanted this _over_ and _now_ so that things could go back to normal. With Hakuba and Kaito snipping at each other, with her and her father having dinners once he got home, with her and Kaito just hanging out after school and doing homework together.

Because, of course, Kaito wouldn't go to jail. Because Kaito was incapable of such violence. The magician was a jokester, a prankster, a light-hearted, precocious breeze that flitted about a room. He _couldn't_ kill anyone, any more than she could. The sheer incongruity of the accusations was just incomprehensible. What was wrong with the police that they even considered her closest friend? Law and Order were the Right and Just things that held society together; they should never be wrong. But Kaito was being accused and things just weren't looking good for him.

Aoko knew, of course, that sometimes an innocent man went to jail. It was a sad case, but it wasn't often. Police were always competent in their job and knew what they were doing. Police didn't accuse anyone without a damn good reason. But there _was_ no good reason for Kaito to be accused. There was no good reason to accuse anyone, but that's all anyone was doing any more.

And the fact that there were so many accusations flying around was just as bad. Akako, Junko, Katanaka-sensei, that idiot Hoshizuki… they were all pointing fingers at one another. Was there no compassion? _None_ of them could be capable of murder. Katanaka was too gentle, Junko was too shy, and Akako was too bizarre. Yet they were all shouting at one another, accusing one another. Had they all degraded to animals? Weren't people supposed to be above such... barbaric behavior like throwing meaningless, thoughtless accusations and... murder? With behavior like this, with the lack of empathy, it was no wonder Law and Order were being blasphemed. These people hadn't evolved past the caveman. Slaughter of character, slaughter of people...

That was another problem that Aoko had to deal with. Seeing Minagami Kakeru's body on the ground like that... Even ignoring that it was someone that she knew who had suffered such a violent death, she couldn't help but mentally replace the cooling corpse with an image of her father.

Ooooh, Aoko was furious with herself. She _shouldn't_ be letting that image occur. Yes, her father was a police officer and he'd come home injured from arrests before. Once, back when she was ten, she and Kaito had been enforced nurses when her dad had gotten shot in the arm. She _knew_ he could be hurt on the clock. But the idea of him actually _dying_ in the line of duty was... unfathomable. But looking into that tiny room and seeing Kakeru bloody and lifeless had made her realize that _anything_ could happen to her father. Yes, the elder Nakamori spent most of his time chasing after Kaitou Kid, who was non-violent to the point of helping the officers chasing him if they were in danger of being hurt. (Something Aoko respected, though she'd _never_ admit that in a million years.) But the Phantom Thief wasn't the _only_ criminal her father went after.

"Hakuba-kun," she growled. "Where the _hell_ are you?"

Ran smoothed her hair down once more. "Everything will be alright, Aoko-san. I promise."

* * *

The person Aoko was growling for was also growling at the moment. Hakuba's grey-blue eyes glanced at his phone once more, willing for another update on Kuroba's case to magically appear so that he could attempt to put his deductive reasoning back to the task and figure out _what the hell_ was going on. His train would arrive at the Tokyo Station in mere moments, and he'd be running to the Budokan from there. The Budokan wasn't far from the Yasukuni Shrine, but that was on the other side of the park from his stop, and he didn't want to try and figure out where to get to the subway from there to make it faster.

There was so much he didn't know. How was the murder scene laid out? What was where? Who was where? Items had been found to cast suspicion away from Kuroba, but who did that? Where were the items found, what were the items, and who had time to place them on other people? What sort of questioning had been done and what sort of answers were provided? Aoko didn't give him the level of detail he _needed_ to do this. Yes, she gave him information and he had a rough idea of what was occurring, but that didn't change the fact that it felt like he was going in blind. He _needed_ to be there to see everything and do things properly.

Because he would be _damned_ before he let Kuroba be arrested for something he actually _didn't_ do.

His station was announced and Hakuba put aside civility to elbow his way to the doors. Once they opened, he dashed out and through the station. Hakuba would be the first to admit that he wasn't as familiar with Tokyo as he was with London, but he had long ago memorized a map of the area and was now using it to its fullest so as to guide his running steps through every shortcut he could think of to get there that much faster. He couldn't allow this farce to continue. He was going to pull Kuroba out of the fire so that when he was caught in a heist, there would be no escape.

Hakuba ran through the streets, a tiny, unacknowledged part of him worrying over a possible friend.

* * *

Ran continued to hold her new friend Aoko close as the policeman's daughter sorted out all the feelings that were overwhelming her. It was a process Ran was all too familiar with, particularly back when she didn't know where (and more specifically _who_) Shinichi was. When calls from Shinichi left her in a confused mess as she worried about him and whatever case he was on and wondering why he was still gone and never spoke with her long, and the list went on and on. No doubt Aoko was going through the same thing, with worries on how Kaito would get through this and if he couldn't, what would happen.

Ran understood. She gave quiet support and hushed words of comfort. Shinichi, trapped in the small form of Conan, would solve the mystery and exonerate Kaito. Of that she had absolute faith. Conan had already hinted that he didn't believe the teenage magician to be guilty, so he would be hunting down the true culprit.

Speaking of small detectives, Conan slipped into the room, unnoticed by all but herself, who had gotten quite used to seeking out his presence to reassure herself that he was still there. A leftover from her paranoia when she didn't know anything that was going on with him. What was odd was the expression on his face. There was no attempt to look child-like whatsoever. (Though, given how the fool Hoshizuki was ignoring everything and talking to another policeman and Aoko was to busy ignoring the world and Katanaka and Junko were gone and Kaito and Akako were nowhere in sight, it wasn't really a wonder that no one noticed him. Shinichi could really luck out with his secret in that regard.) Conan walked to her, his face caught in deep, deep thought.

"Conan-kun?" she called softly. His only acknowledgement was to turn and head in her direction, still in heavy contemplation. Slowly, he stopped at her knees, arms crossed and staring down at the floor. Ran could almost see his thoughts, flitting back and forth as they were processed. He'd discovered something, she could tell. Something big. A grimace crossed his face. Something troubling.

It was amazing how her ability to read Shinichi's face had switched to Conan so quickly. Of course, at times like this when Shinichi wasn't hidden behind his Conan mask, it was easier. But even when filtered through a childish personality surrounded by people who didn't know who he was, she could usually get a good idea of what he was thinking. And Ran was pretty sure that she needed to talk to him. But with her arms full of Aoko, there was nothing she could do at the moment.

Ah, but here was her excuse. Kaito came back in, a stiffness in his step that indicated he was probably irritated about something. Maybe. Ran had never been quite as good at reading people as Conan could be. The dove on her shoulder cooed softly and flapped, ghosting its way silently over to its master. Aoko's did the same, but Conan's dove stayed on his shoulder, looking between the magician and the small detective.

Kaito walked over and sat down beside Aoko, putting his feet up onto the conference table and leaning back into a slouch befitting a lazy sack of potatoes. Aoko stirred in Ran's arms, seemingly aware, and glanced at Kaito's I-don't-care-about-anything-because-everything's-going-to-be-fine position. The teenage magician gave a cocky grin and produced a blooming rose out of thin air, handing it to her. Ran couldn't help but blink, as nothing of his stiff irritation showed at all, like it had never existed.

How strange.

A tiny hand touched her knee and Ran immediately looked down. "Ran?" Conan asked in a small voice, his face still distracted with whatever was being processed through his brain. "I have to go pee."

A good excuse. Ran gave a small, warm squeeze to her new friend, gently pulling away. Aoko didn't seem to notice, staring at the rose and gently stroking the petals.

"Okay, Conan-kun, come on." She hefted up Conan's small form and the truncated detective wrapped his arms around her neck, burying his face into her shoulder, looking for all the world like a tired little boy.

She stood and walked over to Hoshizuki, who seemed busy looking important as he talked to the building manager of the Budokan. She waited a moment before tapping his shoulder.

"Detective?"

"Huh?"

"If you don't mind, Conan-kun has to go to the bathroom. Would you mind if the two of us were to leave for a few minutes?"

"Oh sure, fine. Go ahead."

Another example of his ineptitude as far as Ran was concerned. Even her father wouldn't let people leave so easily without asking a few questions and possibly giving an escort. Unless it was a pretty girl. Her father had an incredibly blind eye to a beautiful face. But that was neither here nor there at the moment.

Out in the hall, she found a secluded area by a large plant. She knelt beside it, rocking Conan and showing the image of a proper sister comforting a little brother. Her long hair and the leaves of the plant obscured any prying eyes from reading lips and she would hear anyone approaching them and easily switch topics if the situation required it. It was a method she had come to use frequently whenever she felt that she and Shinichi needed a private word in public that helped to assuage his constant fear and paranoia.

"Shinichi," she whispered. "Are you alright?"

He grunted.

"Shinichi?"

"I don't know what to do with it," he mumbled.

"I don't understand, Shinichi."

"I should tell the police... But that just doesn't _feel_ right... Ergh, what do I do?"

Ran blinked, unsure what to make of those fragmented sentences. She had no idea what he was referencing. And this was _Shinichi_. Why did it feel wrong to go to the police with something?

"Shinichi? Is this about the murder? Can you not reveal the murderer or something?"

And he looked at her. His sapphire eyes so deep and conflicted. But why was he conflicted? What was warring inside him so strongly?

"Shinichi, is it Kaito-san? Is he really the murderer?"

He focused his eyes on her, before a wry chuckle escaped him. "There is no way in _hell_ that he could _ever_ be a murderer."

Ran blinked at that.

"Ran, after this case is over, talk to Nakamori. Talk to her a lot. Be a good friend to her. And..." He trailed off, looking away. "Talk to her about secrets. Talk about what secrets do to people; people who hold onto them and people who are ignorant of them. And what happens as you hold a secret longer and longer."

"Is Kaito-san keeping something from Aoko-san?"

Shinichi shook his head. "It's not my place to say. _Anything_ about Kuroba is _not_ my place to say. Yet it is. And it isn't. Argh..."

Just saying that much seemed to trouble him. It was like when he spoke about the woman who had created the poison that had minimized him. He felt it wasn't his place to say, but why was that true for Kaito? What secret had Shinichi discovered that left him so conflicted?

But with him so divided, she couldn't ask him. He was being straightforward with her, and after all the lies he'd told when he was hiding, she could accept this. So Ran hugged Shinichi a little closer, running a hand through his hair. "Don't worry, Shinichi. I'll talk to Aoko-san. And not just because you told me. She reminds me a little bit of Kazuha-chan."

He nodded against her shoulder.

"Good. Now let's go catch a murderer."

* * *

Shinichi had left Ran the task of waiting for Hakuba at the entrance of the Budokan to guide him to the conference room. Frankly, he'd rather have used the dim Hoshizuki to solve the mystery quickly so that the culprit wouldn't have time to escape, but Shinichi needed to reveal Hoshizuki's part in all of this as well. Plus, Hakuba had a vested interest in helping his classmates (and _boy_ did he, given Kuroba's criminal doings) and, more believable, since he was somewhat known as a detective outside of his hunting down Kaitou Kid.

Plus, it gave Shinichi time to sit down and think. He twirled in a cushioned conference chair, acting the part of a somewhat tired child, while his brain, which had been blaring at full volume surround sound and ultra high-definition detail, sifted through not the facts, but his feelings on the dilemma that he was currently in.

He had once told Hattori that, while he felt he had the right to _catch_ Kaitou Kid, he didn't feel that he had the right to turn him in. Kid's sniffing at authority and tenacious knack for getting away ever since his return had, frankly, _earned_ being taken down a peg or two. The capricious smile, arrogant taunting of the Task Force assigned to him, and clever rebuttals to all of Shinichi's attempts to catch him, had given Kaitou Kid something of a cocky "Can't Catch Me!" attitude that needed a big feeding of humble pie. Shinichi had always felt that he would be the one to ultimately stuff said piece of humble pie down Kid's throat, since nobody else, even Hakuba, ever came so close to capturing him.

The downside of that, however, was for all of Kaitou Kid's flirtations with capture, there was no denying the underlying and very strong sense of _honor_ that the magical thief had. Shinichi had faced down many adversaries, culprits, criminals, and murderers. But _none_ ever had the same sense of honor and fair play that Kaitou Kid lived by and inspired. Shinichi felt that, as such, it seemed almost vulgar to go after him in whatever his civilian life might be. And once Shinichi had deduced the most likely motives behind what he was doing, Shinichi could relate to him all to well. He had a keen understanding of the weight of secrets and sometimes the need to break the law to ensure that justice was carried out. Shinichi had broken many laws when one truly looked at what he was doing. But they were all relatively minor and no one was hurt. The same held true for Kaitou Kid. By his constant returning of whatever jewel or item had captured his eye, there was nothing, in paper, that anyone could really hold him on outside of minor misdemeanors. Their methods might be very different, but there was no denying that he and Kaitou Kid were similar. More similar that he cared to admit.

So, when he'd spoken to Hattori of how he'd catch Kid, but not turn him in, he had already settled within himself that he would someday catch Kaitou Kid on a heist, maybe unmask him for his own curiosity, and then quietly let the thief go. There would be no denying that Shinichi had Kid in the palm of his hand, and humble pie would be dished out. But other than that, no major ramifications would occur from his capture of the whimsical thief.

_This_ however, learning that Kaitou Kid was Kuroba Kaito outside of a heist, was something that Shinichi had never anticipated. It wasn't a simple case of unmasking someone; there would be no proof other than one person's word against another's. Without tangible proof, nothing would stand in court and they could part ways. But now, Shinichi had proof in his hands. The unusual smoke pellet, along with all the other tidbits that had suddenly became clear over the course of just one murder investigation. While a good deal of it was based off a private conversation and observations of habits, the capsules would make for a good case.

Shinichi had done a great deal since his minimization that was ethically questionable, with lying to Ran right at the top of that list. But now he had evidence in hand; there was a substantial part of him that was wondering if he should just destroy it. Get rid of it so that no one else could ever uncover the true identity of one Kaitou Kid. But even if he got rid of it, there was nothing he could do to forget that revelation himself. He'd never be able to go into a Kid case the same way again.

This, this was cheating! Discovering who Kid was outside of his work clothes was just cheating! It was wrong. Kaito, be he Kid or Kuroba, was too honorable to catch anywhere _other_ than a heist. But everything had just fallen into Shinichi's lap and he didn't know what to do.

Should he confront Kuroba? If so, when? Certainly not now, during this investigation. But when he'd been questioning Kuroba before that odd cobweb-feeling had settled over him, there was no way that Kuroba could have _not_ figured out that Shinichi was hovering around the truth, or at least getting close. Trying to corner him now would do nobody any good because Kuroba would undoubtedly have three or four cover stories for each accusation that Shinichi may have. Plus, Shinichi wasn't even sure he was ready to confront Kuroba at this point.

But this wasn't something that he could just leg go of. He _couldn't_ go back to normal; he was going to have to do something. But Kuroba being Kid wasn't his secret to tell. And how long could they tap dance around each other, in any event? Kuroba clearly knew that Shinichi was trying to clear him, and was trying to give him as much of a free hand as possible to ensure that Shinichi could wrap up the investigation without any hassles due to his age.

Kuroba trusted him.

And that was something _else_ that made Shinichi's insides squirm. Whenever Kid appeared in a murder investigation, he did whatever he could to help Shinichi get to the bottom of the mystery. That went back to the honorable thief, because Kuroba wanted justice just as much as Shinichi did whenever someone stole a life. Kuroba had been a help, grudgingly as Shinichi may take it at the time. And trying to keep track of who owed whom was nigh on impossible. There was a lot of respect that Shinichi held for the thief and if he was sick and insane enough, admiration for the brilliance of what Kuroba could accomplish with hat and cape on.

With trust, respect, and a little admiration, the only thing that really kept him from calling Kuroba a friend was the barrier of the law. Shinichi was a detective and Kid was a thief. But to do anything with the information that had just fallen in his lap would be determined by if he wanted to remove that last wall or not. To do nothing, destroy the evidence, cover up the criminal, would go against every instinct he had as a detective, but hold true to his own sense of honor for Kuroba as a possible friend. And Shinichi knew himself well enough to admit that he _needed_ people who knew who he was and could understand what he was going through. Hattori and Ran were _wonderful_, but there was a selfish aspect of him that wanted more than just two people by his side to call friend. Haibara could wander into that world of friend from time to time, but she had her own walls and he couldn't begrudge her the right after everything that _she_ had been through.

But that was letting his feelings muddle what was Right and what was Wrong. If he stayed true to the letter of the law like he always tried to, Shinichi would have to submit the evidence to someone, maybe Hattori, and let them make the call. Because Shinichi realized that he had lost his objectivity.

He couldn't talk about this to Ran. This wasn't his secret to tell. But by that line of thought, he couldn't tell Hattori either. The moral way and ethical way of this matter were eluding him. Shinichi had always prided himself in his strong sense of right and wrong. But that sense was failing him. Ethically, as a detective, he had to turn Kuroba in. Morally, he had to stand back and support Kuroba in hiding.

Shinichi let out a sigh.

His thoughts were running in circles and getting him nowhere. Ultimately, he couldn't do anything that night. Beyond solving the murder and exonerating Kuroba, he would leave the subject alone to think about. He couldn't decide now, when still gripped by the shock of it. Now that he knew, he could take all the time he needed.

Shinichi, after all, could find Kaitou Kid whenever he wanted to.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Poor Conan-kun. What's a detective to do with this? ^_^ That's what the sequel's about.

Next time: Finale-ish stuff. Murderer revealed, loose ends (somewhat) tied together, etc.


	10. Chapter 10

**Part Ten**

Hakuba finally arrived at the Budokan and paused for a full thirty seven point six seconds to catch his breath, wipe his brow of sweat, and adjust various articles of his clothing to look presentable, including fixing his cuffs until exactly half an inch of their pristine whiteness showed from under his overcoat. More than half of him wanted to just dive into the octagonal building and start demanding answers, but he ultimately refused to let Kaito think his possible imprisonment had _that_ much of an affect on him and besides, he rationalized, he needed to look presentable. He was representing his father and he didn't want to be mistaken for anything less than perfect.

Taking a deep breath, he stuffed his gloved hands into his pockets and strode into the Budokan, eyes darting back and forth to find any source of activity. The building was huge, holding many events at once, and it was likely that the murder was being quietly pushed to one side. The blond was about to pull out his cell and text Aoko where she was when,

"Hakuba-san?"

Turning his head, Hakuba found himself staring at a girl in a karate uniform, long dark hair falling behind her back. She looked familiar, but Hakuba wasn't sure from where. "Yes?" he asked, courtesy taking over.

"We thought it would be a good idea for me to lead you up to the conference room where the investigation is being held," she offered by way of explanation, stepping ahead of him and already making impressive strides. Hakuba quickly followed, trying to place where'd he seen the girl from even as he processed the information.

"You were talking to Aoko-kun," he conjectured.

"Yes," she replied. "We met before the tournament; she was watching Conan-kun for me while I was competing. I've been... helping her and Kaito-san through this."

Conan... now that was a name he knew, the boy popping up on many a Kid heist and butting his nose in. Nakamori spoke of the boy on occasion and his irritating guardian, Mori Kogo-- "We met at the Sunset Mansion, did we not?" he queried. "When the detectives were all gathered and 'killed' off in search of the treasure that Kaitou Kid was rumored to be looking for. Kaitou Kid impersonated your father."

"You have a good memory, Hakuba-san," the girl, Ran, that was her name, said. "Yes, we've met before."

"I see." Filing that away for later use, Hakuba continued to follow her, hoping to get an assessment of the situation. "Has anyone been arrested yet? I'd like to see the place of the murder if I can. Aoko-kun said something about a storage closet? Where is everyone now, and who is in charge of the investigation?"

"I'm sorry, Hakuba-san," Ran offered, "but I've been with Aoko-san the whole time, so I don't know all the details I know that you want. The one to talk to is Conan-kun."

"The boy? What on earth for?"

Exiting the elevator, Ran led Hakuba around the corner to a conference room. She simply smiled. "Because Conan-kun often sees little details that can break a case wide open. He's my father's good luck charm!" There was a pregnant pause as Hakuba stared at the girl, not quite believing what she was saying; after all, how could a _child_ be a good luck charm? He couldn't deny that the boy had skill for noticing details; even he had picked up on who the murderer was at the Sunset Mansion, and he had been precocious enough to suggest that the old woman would confess to a child, but he hardly had any kind of assessment of the boy's abilities. He found it more than a little daunting that a _kid_ could be _that_ helpful on a case.

Still, he was hardly one to look a gift horse in the mouth, if the child really did notice details, then so much the better for Hakuba.

"I brought him up, Conan-kun," Ran said brightly. She stepped into the room, Hakuba close behind her. A large table was the centerpiece of the room, surrounded by black office chairs and, spinning in one of them, was the tiny child in glasses. He looked up with a bright and boyish face.

"Hi, Hakuba-nii-chan!" he chirped brightly. "Oh, where are my manners? Have a seat!"

............ Not exactly what Hakuba was expecting. The child looked just like that, a child. Frowning, the blond took a seat across from the child, suddenly fearful that this would be a waste of time.

"Mori-kun," he said, turning to the girl in the karate uniform. "I would like to look at the crime--!" He sucked in a breath as something stung at the base of his neck. He moved to put his palm on the sore, but it was too heavy, and the world was slowly fading from.... him... so tired..........

"Hakuba-nii-chan?" a muffled, far away voice asked. "Are you alright?"

* * *

Conan lowered his watch and crawled over the table. It was the first time he'd ever stung the half-British detective, and he wanted to be sure he got it right. Ran waited tensely at the door.

The boy sighed. "We're set," he said, turning to the love of his life. "Can you get everyone in here? Including Hoshizuki?"

"Yes, right away," Ran said quickly, ducking out of the door while Conan positioned the blond and hid under the table, pulling out his bowtie and adjusting the dial. He wondered dimly if Kid--Kuroba--had a device like this for his impersonations or if it was raw talent. Never mind, better to not think on that now. Conan took a deep breath and mentally rearranged his thought process and speech pattern to that of Hakuba's. His accent wasn't too strong, so he doubted he'd struggle as much as he did the one time he'd imitated Hattori.

Slowly, the cast arrived.

The dove that had been perching intermittently on his shoulder cooed softly in his ear, dipping its head repeatedly as its master, Kuroba, arrived with Aoko in hand. Conan tensed as he realized he didn't know how Hakuba addressed them.

Aoko slammed her fists on the table, rattling it over the faux grade schooler's head. "Hakuba-kun! Where the _hell_ have you been? You haven't answered any of my texts for the last hour and now you have the gall to sit there smugly in that chair and--"

Conan was quickly coming to fear a debauchery of his little charade, but Kuroba's voice interceded. "Aoko, hey, listen! I'm about to perform a miracle! Make sure you take this down!"

"What?" the girl growled.

"I'm going to _defend_ Hakuba; isn't that cause for celebration? Or at least running away in terror?"

Even Conan, under the table, was shocked stupid.

"What? I'll get even odds he ran all the way here after he got off the train. He's probably out of breath and all hot and bothered so much he can't even think of talking to poor 'Aoko-kun and Kuroba-kun.' So? Am I right? Sagi-chi?"

Conan took a moment to balk at the nickname under the table before hastily speaking into his voice-changing necktie. "Are you really that desperate to go to jail, Kuroba-kun?" he asked in wry tones, "Surely you realize I can prove your innocence."

The thief fell silent, but Aoko exclaimed, "You can? Then do it now!"

"Patience, Aoko-kun," Conan offered. "Trickery of this level requires an appropriate stage to unravel, as I'm sure even Kuroba-kun would admit."

"Saguru-kun? What are you doing here?" That was the teacher, Katanaka, so Conan knew the quiet Junko was likely on her arm; this was confirmed as he saw two new sets of legs appear under the table. The dove ruffled its feathers on his shoulder and fluttered to his knee.

"I am here to clean up a mess, Katanaka-sensei," Conan said smoothly with Hakuba's voice. "One created by only the most vindictive and evil of acts, one created by murder."

"Who is this?" Hoshizuki's voice demanded as Ran quietly ushered him in.

"Hakuba Saguru," Conan said with confidence. "I heard of this travesty from Aoko-kun here, and came here to help clear the matter up."

"As if a _teenager_ could solve this case as quickly as I have," the self-important man said with a smug veneer or contempt.

"That is perhaps true," Conan said in even tones, hearing a gasp from somewhere in the crowd, "I, a teenager, did solve this case - because I have uncovered the truth of this case; a truth that was so obvious that even someone such as you should have noticed, and I saw it as soon as everyone walked into this room."

There was a chorus of "Eeeeh?" that filled the conference room, and Conan offered a grim smile of satisfaction to the small dove on his knee. It faded quickly as he looked closely at the bird... was this the one he'd tended to, nursed to health before the Memories Egg Heist? He shook his head again, focusing on his presentation.

"I saw the utility closet before I came here," Conan said using Hakuba's voice. "The trick for the murder was efficiently simple." He paused, letting the information sink in. "The culprit clearly has a high set of skills to carry it out. The culprit, for whatever reason, could not get hold of a gun, and so created a skillful mock-up using a pipe, a custom made firing pin, and some string. Placing and weighting the pipe on a shelf in the utility closet, the culprit strung up the string to the door. When the door opened, the string pulled taught and cocked the mock-up; closing the door pulled the string again, causing the firing pin to do its job and the bullet was allowed to exit the pipe chamber and penetrate the victim."

"We already know this," Hoshizuki said with importance.

"But perhaps what was overlooked was the particular set of skills required to make such a mock-up. That level of precision and handling can't be done by just anyone."

"Of course, which is why Kuroba is the--"

"No," Conan said in a stern tone. "He does possess the skills, of course, any magician of his level has to in order to perpetrate high end magic, but he is not the only one. Katanaka-sensei has more than an adequate knowledge of guns, given she knew what the cocking of a gun sounds like and was able to identify the GSR on the murder weapon."

"How do you know that?" Katanaka demanded, "You just got here!"

"The boy, Conan-kun," Shinichi said, trying to hide a smug grin in his voice. "He has an excellent memory and relayed what he learned from his 'interview' with you." There was a pause, indicating acquiescence, and so Conan pressed on, holding his bowtie closer. "But while you have the knowledge, Katanaka-sensei, you do not have the skills.

"Isn't that right, Minagami Junko-kun?"

Conan paused again, letting the revelation settle over the group. The stunned silence was palpable, and Conan saw more than a few sets of legs go rigid. He waited for the reaction, having already guessed most of them.

First, Aoko: "Are you _crazy_? Bad enough that Kaito's being accused but now poor Junko-chan?"

Then Katanaka: "Saguru-kun, how one earth can you possibly think--?"

Hoshizuki: "I fail to see how--"

Conan lowered his tie and pulled himself out from under the table, startling the dove while he put on a sleepy boy face. "Neee," he whined, "I was almost asleeeep. You're all being ruuude." He only had time to see Ran quickly covering her mouth and hide a snort of laughter before he let himself drip back down to the ground and hide under the table. The dove cooed indignantly, but fluttered back over to his lap, nipping at the boy's sleeves.

"As I was saying," Conan continued in Hakuba's voice.

"How," came a soft whisper. "How can you say that I did that?"

"Because you have the skills," Conan said in cold tones. He had no sympathy for murderers, even in circumstances like hers. "You constructed the mock-up before coming here, but you needed time to set up the mechanism and the string. Likely it was why you were late for meeting your brother, coming upon him as he was making yet another scene with Kuroba-kun and Aoko-kun. You only had the one bullet, you could not risk it going off by accident; and so after you set everything up you left the door only slightly ajar, not completely closed, to save your precious bullet for the assigned target."

"But," the girl said in a low voice, "wasn't there a note from Kaito-kun to meet him there?"

"An obvious deception that your brother fell for, just as you wanted him to," Conan said with confidence. "The bitter argument between the two is well known, and Kuroba-kun makes an easy scapegoat. You set the murder up as you did so that you could be nowhere near the crime of course, but also because you could use the Magic Bullet to make Kuroba-kun an easy mark. You even staged that over-dramatized reaction, reminding everyone of the Magic Bullet; but that was your first trip up. For a student as quiet and unassuming as you, the reaction was a little strong - even for a girl who just lost her beloved brother."

"Even if..." the girl stuttered. Conan could see the girl gripping her fists under the table. "Even if what you say is true... what proof... there's no proof, is there?"

Conan's face hardened, the dove still cuddling in his lap.

"The burns," he said simply through the bowtie, Hakuba's voice as hard as his face.

He could feel the surprise radiate off the room.

"You've kept your hands carefully hidden this evening; hiding them with your hair as your cried into your hands, keeping your arms crossed or under a table, but just now when you entered the room, you slipped up. You put your hands on the table as you sat down, before your folded them under the table. Soldering often leaves burns, and for a mechanism as detailed as the one you made, it is more than logical for them to be on the fingertips, much like the burns on yours."

There was a pregnant pause as everyone swiveled their heads to stare at Junko, but she stubbornly kept her hands under the table. Conan lowered his bowtie and crawled under the table. Taking the dove, he gently tossed the bird onto the murderer's lap. The desired reaction happened, the girl startled and floundered backwards, involuntarily flapping her arms about in reaction.

From under the table Conan watched as Kuroba grabbed the girl's wrist while the dove at last joined his master, and the fingertip burns were plain for all to see.

"... Junko-kun..." Katanaka muttered in surprise.

"Why?" Aoko demanded. "_Why_? He was your brother!"

Conan lifted his bowtie. "Because he was too restrictive for her," he said in low tones. "His traditional opinions and domineering attitude prevented her from admitting the truth."

Kaito picked up. "That she was in love with Katanaka-sensei."

The teacher startled, her blue shawl falling off one shoulder. "What?"

The girl finally looked up, her face torn in anguish. "He said it was wrong, to like girls; he said it was disgusting." Her face suddenly hardened to the one she had when she leapt at Kuroba, as she turned to the magician. "He said it was your fault. It was; it was your fault that he found out. That joke, that infamous joke that you don't remember, you outed me! You impersonated Nii-san and told her," she jabbed her free thumb at Aoko, "to kiss me! I couldn't hide after that! It's all your fault! It's all--" her voice broke, "all your fault!" the energy seeped out of her, and she sank to her knees.

Conan stepped out from under the table, making himself known again. "If it was really Kaito-nii-chan's fault," he said softly, hands in his pockets. The dove floated back to his shoulder, "then why didn't you kill him? You didn't, because the only fault to be had is yours."

Junko could only continue to cry.

* * *

Kaito and the others watched the spectacle, his emotions all over the place. One part of him marveled at Kudo's presentation; it was masterfully done, from Hakuba's impersonation to his skillful manipulation of the crowd by playing the tired little boy to the ingenious use of his dove to expose Junko - artistically poetic, even ironic, and Kaito could only have deep admiration for the show, from one professional to another.

Another side of him felt nothing but gratitude towards the teen toddler. He spent most of the time mentally cheering for Kudo at the top of his lungs: "Go Kudo! Go, go Kudo!" Knowing that the moment of his exoneration was finally at hand, it was everything he could do to not bounce on his feet in anticipation.

A third piece, however, as he learned who the murderer was and why, brought only negative feelings in him. He remembered the comment now, running from Aoko and her mop and doing a quick-change into Minagami and simply saying, "Kiss my sister Junko and we'll call it even." It was so harmless at the time, the _entire school_ knew that Junko liked girls, and Kaito really didn't think anything of it. That it precipitated this, that it caused Junko to be pushed so far into a corner by her brother that she felt murder was the only option... It was sobering. He wondered dimly if all the people he stole from, all the reputations he ruined, all the general _upset_ he caused with his night work caused other tragedies like this. He never paid much attention to people after a heist; it was done, there was no reason to revisit it, but now he felt the irrepressible urge to check up on all his old marks, to see how they were doing.

Then Conan stepped out from under the table, Kaito's dove again flapping her wings to join him, and he spoke. "If it was really Kaito-nii-chan's fault, why didn't you kill him?" The teen magician blinked. "You didn't, because the only fault to be had is yours." The disguised detective looked up to Kaito as Junko continued to wail, his eyes narrow but somehow soft. "Kaito-nii-chan, he's a jerk and he's a jokester, and he's a pain in the butt, but he never sets out to hurt people." Lowering his gaze back to Junko, he continued, "But you know? If you told people and asked for help, you wouldn't have had to do that to your own brother."

A silent moment hung in the air, everyone staring at Junko, balling on the floor and unable to stop. Nobody knew quite what to do, even Kaito, but even as he looked to the chibi Kudo he saw the boy was already one step ahead.

He gave a great yawn, loud and drawn out, coupled with an arc of his back and an impressive stretch of his arms over his head. "Ne, Ran-nee-chan," he asked in a whiny voice. "Can we go home now? I think it's past my bedtime."

It seemed to break everyone out of their daze - even Hakuba, the teen magician noticed, as the blond rubbed his eyes and stilled, trying to assess what just happened without showing his panic at the blank in his memory.

The girlfriend, Ran, came over and took Conan's tiny hand in hers, offering a small smile and turning to the detective in charge, Hoshizuki. "Well?" she asked expectantly, "Aren't you going to arrest her? Hoshizuki-san?"

"Excuse me," the detective said in self-important tones, "but please address me by my title."

Conan looked up, his eyes a little too bright for a sleepy boy. "Ne, ne, Hoshizuki-nii-chan, just what is your title? You never said."

Kaito put it together quicker than anyone else, and his head swiveled over to the egotistical man. "The kid's right," he said quickly, "you never gave us your title, and you've had to bully the other cops to get them to do what you want, and you act like a total rookie. Just what kind of officer are you? If all this trouble was because of--"

Hakuba stood from his chair, stepping around the table to intercede. Kaito could see he was still trying to figure out what happened, and an evil corner in the back of his head wanted to _milk_ this, but the situation wasn't appropriate for it. "This can very easily be cleared up," the blond said smoothly, "Just show me your credentials and we can put the matter to bed."

Kaito did everything he could to hide the snort at the comment.

"I've no reason to listen to the impudent demands of a teenage--"

"A teenage detective who solved the case instead of just butting his nose in looking important!" Aoko cried out. Kaito could see her fingers itching for a mop. "I want to see your credentials, too! My father's a cop and I know what an authentic badge looks like, so cough it up!"

"Ne, ne," Conan added, his smug little face entirely too bright, "Can I see, too? Do they look like Ojii-chan's? Or Megure-keibu's? Or Takagi-keiji's or Sato-nee-chan's or Shiratori-keiji's?"

Hoshizuki, suddenly crowded by teenagers - and a teen turned toddler - was balking at what to do, but Hakuba cut off any protests the small man was going to make.

"If I were a betting man," the blond half-Brit said in cold eloquence, "I would imagine you're not affiliated with Inspector Megure; no, judging from what I've witnessed, I don't think you've even made it to the Major Crimes Unit. You're still a beat cop, looking to utilize this case as a means to boost your career. Am I right?"

Kaito stepped back and watched the show: Aoko's reactions were always beautiful, after all; and he couldn't stop an appreciative smile when she turned beat red.

"THAT'S FALSE PRETENSES!"

And that was how the riot began.

When Megure was called and finally arrived - with the added incentive that the fool Hoshizuki had deliberately given the wrong address to buy more time to make a fool of himself - the tiny man was reduced to a blubbering sack of fear over having to deal with not only Aoko, but all the other suspects that had been mistreated by him to say nothing of the investigators who'd suffered his abuse, to say _nothing_ of Hakuba's quiet disapproval.

Yes, it was better than any matinee, and Kaito was suddenly inspired to become a detective - shows like this were worth seeing. In fact, why not help matters along...

Kaito slid up to the blond Hakuba. "You know," he drawled, slinging an arm over the Brit's shoulder, "I was just thinking about being a detective."

The teen raised a honey-colored eyebrow. "What?" he demanded in a flat voice.

"Sure! No magic show I could ever produce would generate a show like this - and this was spontaneous! Say, you think if I work hard enough I can even join the Kaitou Kid Task Force? Those matinee's must be great!" Under his field of vision, Conan choked.

"We don't do this for the _show_," Hakuba said, pushing Kaito's hand off his shoulder and turning to face his (alleged) nemesis fully. "We do it for the _justice_ of bringing a culprit down."

"Aw, but 'Guru-myon," Kaito said brightly, loving the blond's wince at the nickname, "Then why were you so dramatic when you pointed out Junko-chan was the murderer?"

Hakuba froze. Oh yes, Kaito was going to _milk_ this, and _Milk this Good_. "Come _on_," he drawled, "Don't look so surprised. I've never seen you command a crowd like that; and using my dove was a stroke of genius. How'd you grab it from the ankle-biter? She's been glued to him all evening."

Hakuba's look of I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about-but-am-stubbornly-refusing-to-let-it-show look was too good for words, and Kaito could only grin widely.

_Thank you tantei-kun_, he thought to himself, _Thank you for saving my life, and thank you for giving me this INCREDIBLE inside joke._

* * *

A month later, Nakamori Ginzo was standing in the audience of the rock concert, stubbornly wearing earplugs to keep his ears from ringing days afterward. The band was all right for a rock band, but it just wasn't his style.

Why was he there?

Because Kaitou Kid was going to steal the Eternal Will, a spahlerite that was part of the costume for the lead singer. Of all the ludicrous things! But Nakamori was hardly one to pass up a chance to catch the Kid. After the murder case involving his precious daughter and young Kaito, Nakamori had become very familiar with the Budokan, having wanted to understand every detail of the case. He thought it rather gave him an edge now; surely Kaitou Kid didn't know he had all this inside knowledge of the Budokan.

So imagine his surprise when after a planned puff of smoke there were _two_ lead singers on stage, the two mirroring each other perfectly until they both realized the other was there.

The one on the left turned to the audience.

"_Ladies and Gentlemen!_"

And the heist began.

**The End**

**

* * *

Author's Notes**: ^_^ Finally! All done with this one. Of the three stories we have in this little series of ours, this is our least favorite. There's just something in the essence and the telling of it that don't feel completely right and just a little bit forced. There are scenes that we like (Kaito's injoke with Hakuba for starters...) but something's just missing when we reread through the story. Meh.

Nobody (save one) predicted that Hakuba would be Conan's puppet for the finale. We like to think we still manage to surprise you readers once in a while. Especially since the vast majority of you guessed (correctly) that it was Junko who was the murderer and some of you even picked up on the fact that she was in in love with Katanaka-sensei. Mysteries _are_ one of the hardest genres out there for us to write, and this shows that we clearly need practice. Ah well. The next story doesn't focus on the mystery so much, so hopefully that will go a bit better.

Before everyone starts asking about Akako, we must painfully admit that we forgot to include her in the grand reveal. Let's just chalk it up to Conan not trusting that she may or may not be Black Organization and doesn't want to deal with her as such. Plus, he has no outright proof that she falsified evidence, so there's not much he _can_ do about it. (Magic doesn't exist, after all...)

We know that all of you are now going to start (im)patiently awaiting the next story, The Case of the Haywire Heist. Well, we're both prepping to give (and then GRADE) final exams, so we don't expect to be alive until the end of June. Expect the next story around then. Plus, as always, we want a sufficient buffer from our beta so we can keep to our usual two-week schedule. This doesn't mean that you have a permanent dry spell until Haywire Heist goes up. We have another Conan cross over that we'll be posting soon, called Previous Engagement. that should tide you over until we can start posting the Haywire Heist.

(Please note, all this scheduling is tentative, depending on when our beta can get back to us on things...)

**The Case of the Haywire Heist**: Kaitou Kid promised to give one Hattori Heiji a proper heist as thanks for things that happened with a psycho psychologist. It's too bad that things get complicated really fast with Hakuba horning in on Hattori's territory and Conan oddly conflicted on what to do.


End file.
